Chapter 23: [Antiques]
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A couple of hours passed, significantly less than the time it had taken for 001 to remodel Haley to begin with, however Haley judged that it took less time because 001 was only integrating a part of itself into Antares’s Nerve System and not integrating itself to be compatible with already installed tech like it had to with his HUD.

“How boring…” He muttered as he watched Antares collapse onto the floor, he had been forced to sit there the entire time unable to move his hand or risk disrupting the process if not for his improved physique he would most likely have severe muscle cramp right now.

Instead, the only thing Haley had was a dull aching pain coming from his arm which disappeared after several minutes of rest.

Haley looked at the boy who was now unconscious on the floor and sighed, ‘We really can’t continue like this, looks like I need to go collect a few objects in person.’

With a sigh he left all but two drones to watch over the base and the boy and ordered them to notify him the moment the kid woke up if he wasn’t present, if he woke up they were to ensure that he didn’t access any of his personal effects.

It didn’t take Haley long to reach a furniture store in a deserted part of the city, he’d taken precautions to avoid the monitoring of the CCTV systems present and cover his face with his hood to ensure they didn’t scan him during their patrols in case it raised a red flag in someone’s database.

Ring…..!

An old-fashioned bell announced his arrival to the owners of the shop the moment he walked through the store, it was reminiscent of an old Earth antique shop and had nothing but a basic CCTV system which he could easily bypass remotely and erase the moment he left.

“Welcome, welcome! What can I do for you today sir?” A frail old man enthusiastically hobbled towards him from somewhere in the shop, ‘He looks like he’s at deaths door but still working, I wonder why..’ He asked himself as he observed the old man, despite being advanced in age he still held vigour in his eyes as if he was still in his youth.

Haley quickly rid himself of those thoughts and pulled himself back to the reason that he was here in the first place, “I need some furniture, beds and if you can provide mattresses those work too.” He said briefly.

The eyes of the old man lit up having realised that he was purchasing more than just a couple of items, “Please hold on for a second sir, let me go grab our inventory log, don’t go anywhere!” With that the old man turned and rushed off into the back at a surprising speed for someone of his age.

While the old man was currently busy panicking that his ‘big spender’ was about to run off with all of his money with him Haley took a moment to explore the shop while tinkering with his HUD, he was just about to cancel the order he’d placed on a bed for himself but realised it would probably be better to keep one as backup in case he picked up anymore strays in the near future.

Currently he had the intention of expanding his current base of operations to include a barracks of sorts so he could truly become the boss behind the scenes rather than acting in the front lines like he had when witnessing his drones being stolen.

He had no intention to risk his own life all the time after all if he was still alive, he could continue working towards his goals regardless of what happened.

While he was contemplating these things mentally and casually browsing the products in the front of the small store the old man finally returned with a clipboard with piles of paper and notes which Haley assumed was the inventory log of the store.

‘Really taking the whole antique atmosphere to the extreme, aren’t we?’ He mused but kept quiet as the old man shuffled to mark a few items on one page then turned before marking even more, this continued for a few minutes before he handed Haley the clipboard.

“Please take a look at the items I’ve marked sir; these will make the perfect additions to your home I guarantee it.” He said with a smile, Haley scanned through the list quite quickly and nodded in satisfaction – the antique look could be quite interesting for his base all things considering.

With the furniture marked he had enough to fill a bedroom and two living rooms, it included things such as sofas, tables and chairs. The old man only had three beds in inventory currently, two were king-sized oak wood frames and the other was a single pine wood frame, he crossed the second king-sized bed off the list and handed the list back to the man.

“Get me the beds now and pack the rest of the stuff by tomorrow, I’ll be back to collect them then, lets say 20,000 Luna for all of it?” Haley said casually.

“I’m sorry sir but these items are at least worth 60,000 Luna in total, if I sold them for 20,000 I’ll be making a loss!” The old man said, Haley sighed and knew that the old man was trying to up the price but he didn’t have the time or the motivation to argue with him any further.

“50,000, take it or leave it. There’s always other stores.” With that he let loose a local HUD transfer request which the old man quickly accepted and transferred over the 50,000 Luna with minimum effort.

The old man had a pleased look before he went into the back, Haley could hear him shouting at someone, but he didn’t mind it. He returned shortly, “You’ll find the beds round back with complementary mattresses, would you like us to help you transport them, we ca- “

“That’ll be fine. Just have the goods ready for me next time.”  With that he walked out the front door and down the alley to the backside of the store where a young man had just finished moving the final frame into the alleyway.

He nodded at Haley before returning inside and closing the gate he’d moved the frames out of. Without a second thought he ordered his drones to take them away, within seconds they had disappeared into the sky and back towards his base.

Haley yawned and started a slow stroll back while trying to enjoy the leisurely silence of early moving in the city only to unintentionally eavesdrop on a nearby conversation.

“Winston, is this the store?” He heard a female voice from a car that had stopped just outside the furniture store, a bulky man in a black suit who was obviously a bodyguard as Haley judged from his attire held the door open.

A beautiful young woman stepped out into the street and glanced around, her gaze brushed over Haley but he acted as if he didn’t notice and kept his head down as he walked by, “Yes Lady Sarah, would you like me to enter first?” The bodyguard, Winston, asked.

“No that’s fine, we have to get that thing before the rest of them arrive.” She said while looking at the small run-down appearance of the shop, “I still don’t believe that object could be in such a place, but the Augur said it’s here…”

‘Augur?’ Haley thought in surprise, ‘The background of these people isn’t small.’

Augur’s were Lunas that had the ability to somewhat see the future, they were extremely rare with only about one in a trillion possessing the powers and were the most influential Lunas in the Universe and were well respected wherever they went. A family that could hire an Augur was without a doubt a powerful force in the universe.

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