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Kim Hansson and Mya Sierra LaCroix
Kim didn't care much for what the girl had to say. It dosn't matter anyway. She did regret doing it a bit though. She would probably be not too welcome at the café any longer she figured. Oh well, the sacrifices you do for your friends. She laughed and took her baguette and made her way outside as another stream of people entered. It was getting way too crowded in here for her to think. It was like the more people inside, the more her brain was sucked of power. Or so it felt at least. Taking a deep sigh she looked towards her car, or rather, where she normally parked it, she had walked here. The thought sunk in and she sighed even deeper, slumping her shoulders.
Mya walked outside with complete intent to return to the station, hoping to continue her work in silence. Perhaps with a nice cup of coffee and some music. She walked up to her car and placed her hand on the door handle, seemingly unlocking the car with her palmprint. As she was about to get in when she noticed a familiar face standing a few feet away. It took a few moments, but she eventually recognized the gunsmith and stood from her car to approach her. "Need a ride?" she offered, seeing as the smith was looking to where her car would usually sit. Mya had been coming to the Café long enough to recognize most people's parking habits. Something she must have learnt from her time with the NYPD. Hey, old habits die hard.
She was contemplating as to why she walked here when a voice rang out. Kim's eyes slowly raised and looked towards the voice. The detective had spoken to her. What was her name now again? Mya? For once it seemed like a name stuck to her as she didn't even have to go through her contact list to find it. She chuckled to herself and scratched the back of her head. "If you're going the same way that I am, wherever that might be." Honestly, she wasn't sure where she was going. There was the old cabin that needed fixing, but the parts had not arrived yet. She could go back and work, but no customer had called. She shook her head and sighed. "Where are you going anyway?"
"I had planned to head back to the station to work, but I'm honestly not in a work mood. Don't really have a plan for the day." Mya pondered a moment before something popped into her mind. "Actually, if you don't mind a quick detour to my place, I may have a job for you." She smirked, hoping to grab her attention with the promise of work. She reached up and brushed a lock of hair from her own face, tucking it behind her ear before looking back to the smith. "A restoration and repair project, if you're up for it."
Kim's eyes seemed to shine when the offer for work was brought up. Something to keep her hyperactive mind going, even if just for a little bit. She nodded and put on a business smile. "As per standard, I'll take a look at it and make an assessment before accepting or giving you a price." Kim said and stood straight up. The air about her seemed to change whenever work was brought up. She could barely contain herself at the prospect after such a dull day, and it was barely noon!
"Great! Hop in and we'll go take a look. I think you'll like it." Mya smiled at the woman, motioning to the jet black car behind her. She turned and opened her door, sliding into the driver's seat before pushing the push-to-start button under the steering wheel. The eight cylinder engine purred to life and then calmed to a warm hum as Mya gripped the steering wheel, looking over to her companion. "Don't mind the gear in the back, just precautionary measures." She motioned to a bulletproof vest tucked in front of the back seat behind her and the small, pistol sized gun case on the opposite side of the vehicle. She looked back to Kim, smirking once again. "Shall we?"
A few minutes worth of driving later, they arrived at the rather secluded house on the outskirts of the town. It was a well kept property, the centerpiece of which was a moderately sized, modern wood bungalow, parallelled by a separate garage. She slowed the car to a stop and killed the engine, stepping out onto the paved driveway. "Well, here we are. The project in question is in the garage."
She had smiled softly. She was actually quite happy over this development. The incident earlier in the café had left a bad taste in her mouth. Kim entered the car and sat in the seat, she didn't mind the things, rather, she was intrigued by the things back there. That vest could be improved. Make the vest itself smaller since the pads weren't covering the entire thing. Her gaze went to the gun case, then to her own FN-Five-Seven at her hip. Guns united people in so many ways, but also divided them in equal measure.
Her gaze turned once again to Mya. They had quite a few dealings over the weeks Kim had lived here. She had taken over the maintenance of the police firearms, along with a few detectives and local ones. She even had contacts within the army and national guard, and had started working on a few projects there.
As the house came into view she smiled. It was pretty and felt pleasing to her eyes. The aesthetic of it, layout, and the seclusion fit her perfectly. Perhaps she had to remodel the gunshop, add on a proper house to the side of it instead of living above it. Kim shook her mind of stray thoughts though as they got out of the car. "All right," she said and started walking up the driveway. She was in her own little world right now, anxious to see what lay ahead.
Mya paced casually up to the garage, spinning her keys idly on her index finger. She approached the side door and slid in the key, twisting it gently before opening the now unlocked door. She reached over to flick the light switch, illuminating the rather large garage. Inside, a workbench ran the entire length of one wall, while a computer desk sat in the opposite corner. What looked to be a car covered by a large canvas tarp, sat in the middle of the room. But that wasn't the project Mya was referring to.
"It's just over here." she motioned to Kim as she walked over to the workbench. "This is a pre-world war two model Mauser 98. Found it in the cellar that the garage was built over, left there by the owner." Mya pulled back the blanket covering the rifle and picked it up. "She's in pretty rough shape. The rifling is all but absent, stock is cracked in multiple places. The list goes on." She held it out towards Kim, were she wanting to take a look.
Kim's eyes lit up at the prospect of working on a K98, but was slightly disappointed when it was an older model. The iconic world war two rifle was one of her most wanted rifles. Ever since she was young she had wanted one. Stunning accuracy, easy to mount a scope, easy to maintain and very well built. It was still a Mauser though, so it should hold up really well. She took out a pair of gloves and put them on before handling the rifle. She looked it over, it really was in bad shape. There was so much work that needed done. "To be honest, it would be easier and cheaper to create a replica of the rifle than fixing this one."
She pulled the bolt back, pressing a little button on the side before pulling the entire bolt out from the rifle. It wasn't in too bad shape, fixable. Kim then took out a cord and hooked it up to her glasses before inserting it into the rifle. "The chamber looks good enough, no cracks as far as I can see. The inner barrel needs replacing. It's too dangerous to thin the walls to thread it. The trigger seems fine along with the sights, and most of the stock needs replacing. If we're lucky I can remove the butt part and make a new one if it's good enough." She sighed and shook her head. "This won't be cheap if you want me to fix it up to authentic standards."
Mya nodded as Kim went over the gun, watching her with curiosity. It was interesting to watch someone express their knowledge and passion over a hobby. It was so....genuine. No lies, all truth. "Let's say the money side of things isn't an issue, is it possible?" It was true that the repairs would probably be more than the original gun would've ever been worth, but there was something about the rifle that she liked. The history behind it, what it may or may not have been through. The whole mystery that she could never solve, that's what intrigued her.
"So, would you be interested in working on it? I wouldn't consider myself a collector in any way, but to have this rifle back in working order.....it would certainly be an interesting piece to have in my possession."
Kim handed back the rifle after inserting the bolt back inside. "Anything is possible," Kim said and smiled. "And since price was not a problem, it can be done," she exchanged the pair of glasses she was wearing and pressed a button on the side of them and information started scrolling down her eyes. She cross referenced what her suppliers took for the material required along with what she needed from a picture of the rifle, along with what she had at home. She smirked before looking at Mya.
"Give me a day. Come over and watch if you want, but it'll take the better parts of the day if you've got something planned." Kim changed her glasses once again to a normal looking pair, without gadgets on them. "If you ever get tired of detective work, I could always use a good hand in the shop." Mya was one of the few people she thought that she could call a friend, at least she hoped so.
"I'll keep that in mind, a change of careers wouldn't be horrible for me." Mya gently took the rifle from Kim and laid it on the workbench, before retrieving a gun case from underneath the bench. She popped the clasps open and laid the gun down on the soft foam bedding before closing the case once again, securing it with a lock on each end. She held out the keys to Kim and then proceeded to carry the case back out to her car.
After safely securing the holstered Glock 17 to her right hip, she opened the driver side door to her car and sat gently on the seat. "To the shop then, or was there somewhere else you wanted to go?" she inquired, having no particular plans for the day other than checking in at the police station.
Kim smiled a friendly smile, something not too common for her. She truly did consider Mya someone she could trust. She felt oddly comfortable around her even. Kim shrugged her shoulders. "No...I'm good. I have the materials at home, it's just making all the parts." Kim climbed into the car after putting the rifle case in the back seat. She gently patted her pockets to make sure she had her things before closing the door.
After a short drive they arrived at Kim's shop. She got out of the car and grabbed the case. She looked at her modest place for a few moments and sighed, straightened her back and walked up to the door. She leaned over slightly to the side and pressed her thumb against a panel and a beep came from it. She sighed and thought to herself if she was paranoid, having an alarm system this advanced in the middle of nowhere.
She walked inside and took out the rifle and placed it under a camera. "Coffee is currently being made," Kim said and tilted her head towards the workshop lunch room as machinery moving could be heard. She had connected the alarm to machinery operating the coffee maker to start making coffee whenever her fingerprint was accepted. She had been quite bored that day. "Just have to wait for the camera to scan the rifle and make a model, the rest is basically per auto part from handling materials and finishing up the finer parts."
Kim smiled and walked into the lunch room and sat down as a mechanical arm gently placed her coffee cup, filled with coffee, in front of her. She sighed happily and took a sip from the warm liquid. "Have a seat," Kim looked around for something before she stood up in a hurry.
"Shit! I forgot some stuff down at the café. I'll be back in a bit. The machines basically work themselves if you feel like giving it a go." Kim said and dashed out from the workshop. She jumped into her Trans Am and drove off with high speed back to the café. Once she arrived she jumped out of the car, but then slowed down and sighed. Stress was not good for her. She took a few deep breaths before walking into the café at a calm pace. She nodded to the few still there before walking over to where she was sitting before and grabbed her purse.
She looked into it to make sure everything was still there, and it was. Kim took a breath of relief and shook her head. Absentminded like always huh..