The Legendary Junkmaster

The next few days set tongues wagging in Highrise. Jason Wright was well known around town by now due to his being called to service by Rust during the tournament. All of his products at Star Gear were hot commodities. So his return home had the people expecting something great from him. What they did not expect was for Jason to keep himself locked up in the workshop of his store day and night. 

Raymond was stuck dealing with questions from customers, a few of them being hunters or the Lord's agents trying to find an opportunity to get in touch with Jason discreetly. The Lord had ordered for them to bring Jason in while the Hunters either suspected him to be the killer they were after or in possession of information.

But those plans were thrown into turmoil when Jason had Raymond post two separate bounties. One, for those responsible for what had happened to his Gramps. The other for, well, himself. Or the person he would set up to take the fall as being Wraith's murderer. The reaction was exactly as he suspected as the Hunters backed off. Well, most of them did anyway. 

Nobody wanted to piss off someone who could potentially increase their gain from finding the killer. So this gave Jason a fair bit of breathing room, apart from those who were now certain he was involved. The Lord's agents also felt it was better to back off. It would be too suspicious if Jason suddenly disappeared from his store when he had set a precedent of always being there as soon as he returned.

The interested parties were in a mess with how to deal with him right now, but Jason could not care less. Mainly because he had just completed the exoskeleton that would allow him to start diverting attention away from himself. 

"Shall I give it an evaluation?" Syssie asked as she stared at the mechanical marvel. 

"Go ahead..." Jason sighed as he leaned back in the ANT-V to inspect his work.

"Evaluation… D Rank Armour that incorporates mechanical theories and biological materials to gain an advantage in urban environments. Value estimated at 90 copper credits. First Creation Bonus applied. Total PP earned equals 180." Syssie nodded along with each critique she gave. "Designation. EXO: Freedom."

Jason could not help but whistle at the evaluation. He had long suspected that he was capable of creating items in the D Rank but this was his first time accepting a proper evaluation in a while. He was already tempted to spend his new Potential Points there and then, but he held back. 'It's better to wait for a new project and I can apply them to help with that.' He hummed as he looked over the EXO: Freedom.

Although he had created it for serious reasons, he was still eager to play with the toys he had packed into the frame. Only his legs would be fully enclosed, for obvious reasons. While the rest of his body, all the way to his fingertips, would be supported by the mechanical skeleton. Since he could not risk going to the NEST to retrieve his gear he had opted to recreate it. 

He had swapped out some materials for better versions from the crates of goods that Sentinel had gifted to him. Now, his boots were made of a fabric that could completely muffle any noise the mechanical feet would make. However, the toes of these boots were open so that the spikes on the feet of the exoskeleton would be able to dig into walls.

He had done something similar with the fingers as well. This way he would no longer have to worry about firing hooks to where he wanted to get to. As he could just climb, using this simple modification. Naturally, he had added a few other things, and one of them made it so he did not have to recreate the Viper. 

'It's already night.' Jason sighed as he wondered if he should make a move right away. He had worked on this project non-stop. Barely catching any sleep in the process. 'No matter what, I have to make I'm seen...' He hummed as he prepared himself to enter the Freedom. 

But that was the biggest part of his plan. If the assailant was seen walking around, which he was clearly incapable of, it would only help to shift attention away from himself. The only question was, who would be his target? The Black Arrow was supposed to have a grudge against the Red Steel Gang. But he did not have any information on their whereabouts these days, as they had abandoned their old haunt.

'I guess I'll target the Hunters. The Black Arrow has plenty of reasons to do that as well, and they're easy to find.' Jason nodded as he slid his legs into the exoskeleton. He pressed the two buttons to start it up, but the only thing that concerned him was its operational time. The whole suit used a combination of his biofuel and batteries that he had created. In his experience so far, the batteries would not last too long because there was just too much that needed them while they could not hold a large enough charge for long periods of time.

'It feels good to walk again...' Jason smiled as he moved around a bit to get used to the feeling. However, he quickly put the recreated outfit on to cover the exoskeleton. Including the more sinister version of the gas mask he had created. It was now made of black painted metal and housed plants in its filter areas that would be capable of protecting him from any invisible airborne powers.

Jason glanced towards the opening that led to the storefront as a wide smile appeared on his face. Those who were watching the place from outside thought it was impossible for him to leave without them noticing. Jason chuckled as he turned his attention to the worktable in front of the rear wall.

He casually slid it aside and placed his hands on the wall. With a swift kick to the bottom, a section of it fell inwards! 'It was worthwhile preparing this exit...' Jason nodded. Any casual passerby would not notice anything was amiss on the outside unless they looked closely when it was in place. 

He quickly lifted the wall section and took it outside and placed it next to the hole before grabbing the upgraded version of the Arbalest. 'The real trick now is getting this fake wall to stay standing once I put it back...' However, the fake wall did not want to sit properly and kept trying to fall. Jason could only sigh as he found a way to wedge it but it made the seams more obvious.

'Hopefully, nobody comes looking back here...' He shook his head as he moved down the dark alley without making a noise. The Arbalest was holstered on his back, which was a superficial upgrade he had made to the coat. Mainly because he did want to be stuck carrying it all the time.

When he reached the corner of the block of stores that his shop was a part of, he peered down the alley that ran between it and the next lot. Sure enough, he spotted one of his regular watchers leaning against the wall of a store on the opposite side of the street. The Hunter was paying so much attention to his shop's door that he did not notice the shadow that quickly moved through the alley across from him.

Naturally, this guy was not his target for tonight. He would be his alibi for having been in his store the entire night. Not only that, but he did not want to start killing people close to his store again. He already had a place in mind to make sure he was noticed by as many people as possible. 

'In the past few days, the Hunters have set up their own bar a few streets from here. That's where I need to hit them...' He had made sure to pay attention to any gossip that he overheard between Raymond and the customers during the day. Which was how he came to learn about this fact. The streets were pretty quiet, so he did not have to be too stealthy once he was outside of the range of those watching his store.

This allowed him to approach the front of the Hunters bar far quicker than he had anticipated. There were a few people outside chatting with their drinks in hand. Unaware of the danger that was coming for them...

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