HoE: Nia Knuckles Down

<Darkling> You've arrived back at the shop after a long night of work. Some people have the strangest appetites. At least the Fox has nice baths you can clean up in afterwards. Not that you'll be clean for long, there's a big, very broken looking generator sitting in the middle of the shop with a note on it.
<Nia_S> "Geez." Running her hand across the top of her head, she heads for the note, wriggling out of her 'good' outfit. More like unwrapping a ribbon than undressing, but you get the picture.
<Darkling> "Fix dis shit." Is all it says. Thank the Peters' Boys for their eloquence.
Nia_S rolls her eyes, crumpling the note and tossing it. Once she's dressed more appropriately, a blue jumpsuit that used to belong to some dude named 'Chester,' she puts her hand to the generator, popping open the main access panel to have a look-see. "Alright, baby girl, let's see what's got you feelin' down."
<Darkling> Pistons seem seized, someone wasn't taking care of this thing, or it was jsut laying unused for a very long time. Either way, it's going to be a lot of work to get it going again.
<Nia_S> "Jee-eesus. No wonder they sent it my way." Not that she expected much, since the alternatives were: there's a raccoon living in it, or it's cursed. Time to get some fuckin' tools.
<Darkling> "'Ey there darlin'." Comes a voice that makes you want to vomit, Rufus. His blob of a self is wedging its way through the door to the shop. "Got that there thing workin yet?"
<Nia_S> "I jus' got back, 'course I don't have it workin' yet." Even worse, she's already halfway in the machine, bent over while she works on the innards. "Whaddya want, Rufus?"
<Darkling> "Mmm mm mm." He must be admiring the view. "Ya know, yer rent was due last week..." He lets the last bit trail off.
<Nia_S> "Oh yeah? Well maybe you should tell those brainers down at the junkyard to send more work my way. I've got half of it t'night, I can get you the other half in a few days."
<Darkling> "Well, y'see, my brother always takes first share of the rent, being older. But I want mine as well, and I want it now." You've heard this before, and know where his halfwit mind is going.
<Darkling> "Y'know, there's ways we can just forget the money, and just work this out ourselves."
Nia_S grumbles something unintelligible under all the steel and wire before extracting herself, jumpsuit already stained with fresh blots of grease. "Fifteen minutes. My rent being what it is, that's a discount compared to the Fox's rates." It also wasn't the full value of her rent, but Rufus had never let math get in the way of immediate gratification.
<Darkling> He gets a pleased grin on his face, what few teeth he has left at all angles, and wipes a bit of the drool off his chin. "All right darlin'. Never thought you'd come around." He starts unbuckling his overalls, clasps clinking.
<Darkling> As he does so, you can hear a metal grating sound. Metal on metal for sure. Someone stealing from the yard?
<Nia_S> "--hold that thought." Good luck, he's only got room for the one. Before he can complain, she darts out, grabbing a trencher's tool on the way.
<Darkling> "Hey!" He's not impressed with you leaving before he even got his top off.
<Nia_S> "It ain't like I'm chargin' you for it." Now, as for that sound...
<Darkling> You hear the noise again, something is definitely in the yard, maybe on the other side of that pile of scrap.
<Nia_S> "Fuck'n thief!" Off she goes. It wasn't #really# her duty to keep the yard safe, least of all keep anyone from stealing from it, but the Boys'd find a way to blame her, and on top of it all she hadn't even had a chance to get all the good stuff out of there yet.
<Darkling> You round the pile to a grisly scene. There's no way to tell if what is left of the person on the ground was a local, a thief, or just some unlucky soul.
<Nia_S> "Wh--"
<Darkling> There's another man hunched over the body, pulling on an arm, looks like he's trying to rip it right off, and that screeching is still coming from all around you.
Nia_S lifts the shovel high, creeping up from behind the hunched man. Not exactly a time to ask questions.
<Darkling> "You get your tiny ass back in 'ere!" Rufus shouts as he stomps up behind you. The man over the corpse turns, a burnt face missing half it's flesh stares at you.
<Nia_S> "Jesus Almighty!"
<Darkling> "What in the fu-" Rufus doesn't finish his curse as the mangled body is thrown through the air and into his face, organs and blood splattering all over him. The man makes a break for it, wuickly heaving his way over a pile of garbage.
<Nia_S> "H-hey!" Why in the fuck am I giving chase. Though Nia's smart enough to bang the shovel on the ground, as if the damn thing's an animal she can spook off with loud noises, since her chances of actually catching him are pretty slim.
<Darkling> He's out of sight already, but something else has replaced it. A scrap scorpion crawls out of the garbage pile, limbs screeching as it scurries forward.
<Nia_S> "Piss off!" Fuck'n abomination is what it is. Pisses the tech-spirits off something fierce to see their homes glued onto a god damn bug like that. Nia goes for it with killing intent.
<Darkling> A whimper from behind you tells you that Rufus has run off, probably pissed himself too.
<Darkling> A few more scorpions are digging their way out of the garbage. Thankfully scrap scorpions aren't too quick, with all that metal weighing them down.
<Nia_S> "Tsh!" Turned on their edges, trencher's shovels are positively vicious weapons, able to split open a man's skull with a good swing in the hands of a trained soldier. Nia isn't a trained soldier, and scorpions aren't men's skulls, but the intellectual advantage does fill the scrapyard with an almost rhythmic BONK CLANG BONK CRUNCH as Nia makes an aggressive retreat.
<Darkling> She gets a few scarpes and cuts on her legs as she goes, but only from being outnumbered. In the end she's left alone with a pile of twitching metal limbs.
<Nia_S> "Haa...haa..." Whumpf. "This night has been--haa...haa...--the biggest pile of--haa...--bullshit." Rubbing at her worst scrapes, the Junker casts her gaze around. "Th'Hell was that thing supposed t'be, though? Some kinda cannibal?" Might be taint... Gonna have to visit the Hunting Grounds. ...after a rest.
<Darkling> Seems like you must've passed out right then and there, as you're being shaken a moment later. The sky is a tad darker and the air a tad cooler, and Deputy Wash is crouched by you. "You alright?" She asks.
<Nia_S> "--uh. F'r certain definitions." Legs still hurt, hands still ache... Alive, though, which is a damn bit of luck after passing out in the open. Good thing Wash's the one that found her. "Just exhausted after that bug hunt."
<Darkling> "Someone passing by heard the commotion, saw Rufus run from here, and finally thought to tell us. Good thing you're not hurt. What happened?"
<Nia_S> Choosing the start of her story carefully, Nia grunts her way to her feet. "Heard a screechin' out in the junkyard. Thought it might be a thief or some other pain in the ass. I get there, and...well, there's this...I guess it was a mutie or somethin', tryin' to rip some poor bastard's arm off. He took off when he saw me, tried t'whack him on the way out. All the ruckus woke up some scorps and, well..."
<Nia_S> A gesture to her jumpsuit's shredded shins.
<Darkling> "A mutie, in town?" She stands and helps you up. "Must've come in from the slums or the swamp. Damn, this is all we need after al lthe shit today."
<Nia_S> "What, there's worse happenin'?"
<Darkling> "Bar fight in town ended up with some of the idiots getting shot." She shakes her head. "Same bandits shot up, a uh, merchant, outside town too."
<Nia_S> "G'damn."
<Darkling> "Yeah." She sighs, and kicks one of the scorpions bodies sending it flying a few yards. "I'm gonna have to ask you to come down to the office with me. I'll get a description from you of the mutie, we'll clean you up too, make sure none of those cuts gets infected."
<Nia_S> "Yeah, sure." A final look in the shed's direction, pondering that big generator. Long-term project, that one. "Lead the way."
<Darkling> ==========END==========