Save Scumming Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen - Going At It Again

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen - Going At It Again

I arrived at Jane's shop to find a pile of familiar clothes on her front counter. She was dealing with a client though, so I moved around and looked things over.

Yeah, this was everything. The two ponchos, the shorts, the shirt, the hats. There was a nice all-black backpack as well. Nothing too special-looking, but that was probably for the best. The quality looked good, at least, and it wasn't too big of a bag. I wouldn't look too strange with that on over the poncho, though it'd certainly change the look a little.

Oh well. We'd live with it.

Jane finished up with her clients, then disappeared for a mont in the back. When she returned, it was with her arms full of weapons and ammo. "This is a weird one, Beanstalk," she said.

"I know," I replied.

"Any you care to explain?" she asked. I hesitated, and she noticed. "Fine. I've had a few monts like these before."

From the tone she used, I had the distinct impression that I wasn't going to get a friend discount on this one.

Hmm... maybe in the final loop I'd bring Fran back here again? They'd gotten along surprisingly well, and Jane hadn't charged very much at all at the end. "Are those the guns?" I asked.

One was the sa handgun that Fran had used. It had lacked punch, but honestly, it was small, compact, had worked for the most part, and had decent ammo. Plus, she knew how to use a small semi-auto gun like that, so there was not much unfamiliarity to deal with.

"Yup," Jane said.

The other two guns were new to . I reached out and took one of them, then out of habit, I pulled back the charging handle and checked the safety. Empty, and on. The gun was a sleek blue-ish black, with so lighter grey parts and a nice, relatively short barrel with a slim angled foregrip.

"Grasshopper?" I asked as I read the na on the side.

"Not familiar with the brand?" she asked.

"Not really, no," I admitted.

"It's a weird one. They make two kinds of weapons. Extrely pricey marksmanship rifles. Like the kind of shit top-end corpo guards might use laying down atop a skyscraper to snipe so punk's face off from a few miles off. Or training guns."

I blinked, then looked the rifle over again. It had Trainer762 etched on the receiver. "This is a training rifle?" I asked.

"Yup! Semi-auto only. It's damned good stuff, though, and costs less than you might think. Production numbers are lower, and there's a long backlog to order through, but they never jack the prices up. Good second-hand too."

"Huh, alright," I said.

Jane patted the top of a small tin box with heavy clasp hinges on the sides. "Sixty round in this one. And six magazines. All M993. It's an older kinda round, but it'll fuck up most dinos, I think."

"I hope so," I said as I checked over one of the magazines. It looked pretty sturdy. Six twenty-rounders, plus sixty extra? Yeah, that would be plenty. "I'll take so buckshot as well, if you have any to spare."

No reason not to bring the shotgun along. It had served pretty well, especially when the raptors had been hiding behind so shrubbery. The buckshot lacked penetrating and killing power, but that wasn't all that mattered.

"You really gonna go off to fight dinos?" Jane asked.

"Yup," I said. "With a friend."

"She's the one the costu's for?" Jane asked. "Also, I have to point out how weird it is that you know what I have in here. I don't know what I have here."

"Don't think about it too much," I suggested. "And yeah. We need to keep her identity sowhat hidden. The costu will help with that. Plus it'll look good. I'll present you to her one of these days. You'll like her."

"Uh-huh?" she asked, her arms crossing.

"She has nice thighs?"

Jane blinked, then made a strange 'well, I suppose' sort of expression that dragged a chuckle out of . "Right, well, once you paid up, we're square. But be careful out there, Beanstalk. Can't help but feel like you're running headlong towards so sorta trouble."

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"Yeah, too," I admitted.

I paid up, tucked everything into the backpack, then I was off.

There was a lot of ti left until the portal opened. Still, I put in a call with Fran, convinced her that I needed help and that she should co, then I scouted for a place to et.

I found a little coffee place just two blocks over. It was privately owned. Quiet. The kind of place that served cookies that had co out of a box, but the person manning the coffee machine knew what they were doing, and the wi-fi was pretty stable.

I had so cake and ice cream. Probably not the best al before jumping into action, but fuck it. I wanted it, it looked good, it tasted great, and I'd only regret it for one loop. I did get a few looks, being in half my costu and carrying a bagful of guns did that, but no one seed willing to bother , and if they looked ready to, I'd make my eyes flash and that'd scare them off.

Fran arrived forty minutes before the portal was due to open. I stood up, greeted her warmly, then suggested she grab sothing light to eat before we headed up. Then I rember to buy water, which was important. I got two bottles and two cans of so sorta energy drink as well, and a few granola bars, just because.

I had to be careful, at this rate we'd be going in a little heavy, but in future loops, I'd be able to pair that down to just the essentials.

"You... want to get changed, into that?" Fran asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Trust ?"

She stared, then took the clothes and slipped off to the washroom, returning ten minutes later walking with the confident strut of soone very much trying to project how comfortable they were while being anything but.

I didn't know her that well, but I could at least read that much from her body language.

"You look badass," I said as I slipped my hat on. "Co on. We're going to hit up a D-rank portal that'll be opening up in a few minutes. It'll be fun. Fun and safe. Very safe."

I think she doubted . Maybe the reading thing went both ways.

In any case, she did follow out and down the street, and we only stood in the food court for a few minutes before the air started to shift and even Fran, as an even newer D-ranker than , felt the stirrings of magical energy in the air.

The portal ripped itself open, people panicked, and I gestured her ahead and into it.

The mont I was in, I grabbed my shotgun, dropped the bag, and started blasting. It wasn't long that the raptors in the starting room were dead. Then I turned towards Fran, who was lowering her hands from her ears.

"An explanation, please," she said, rather tersely.

Right... a lot of the camaraderie of the last loop was gone. Ah... well, shit.

"Okay. So, we're here. This portal is filled with evil velociraptors that want to eat your fa--who want to kill us. Our goal is to traverse to the boss room as quickly and efficiently as possible. I've got a very good idea of where a lot of them are, but they're ambush predators. Here, I brought so equipnt for you."

Fran took the handgun and holster I passed her, then checked it over quickly before wearing the holster around her hip, then she took the rifle a little more awkwardly, but I was happy to see that she seed to know how to handle it.

Still, I gave her a quick two-minute tutorial on how to aim and shoot, reload and eject a round if there was a misfire.

"If it cos to it, you can kill them in lee. They're not invincible. Just... it's better to kill them from afar, alright?"

"Okay," Fran replied. "Deadline, are you well?"

I paused, staring at her for a long mont. "No? But I will be. Especially once we're out of here. I think... I need a small vacation, maybe."

"I see?"

"Let's just get going? I'll warn you as best I can about anything that might be up ahead. I can't promise that it'll all be accurate, but it'll help, at least a bit."

She nodded, slowly, then shrugged in her poncho and shifted her grip on the rifle. "I suppose I'm ready, then."

"Yeah. Let's do this."

***