Lucas
thought he had won.
That smug, golden-eyed grin, the lazy confidence oozing off him—Ava could
already tell
he was enjoying himself too much.
Too bad
she wasn't here for fun.
As the traders cleared out and the auctioneer handed Lucas
his newly purchased mystery case
, Ava
crossed her arms.
"Alright, Bai," she said. "If you want me to keep doing this, I have some conditions."
Lucas raised a brow, amused. "You're negotiating
with me
?"
Ava smirked. "What, afraid?"
Lucas chuckled. "Not at all. Let's hear it,
Trouble
."
Ava held up a finger. "One—
I get first pick on any tech we bring in.
If I can make it better, I keep it until I'm done."
Lucas tilted his head. "Fair."
Ava held up another finger. "Two—
I want materials. Not just whatever junk we pull out of ruins—I mean
real
supplies and Tools. Clean circuits, working power cells, reinforced alloys.
I don't want to waste time fixing trash if we can get better."
Lucas exhaled slowly. "That'll cost me."
Ava shrugged. "That's not
my
problem."
Lucas studied her for a long moment, then nodded. "Fine. But if I'm paying for premium materials, I expect
premium results
."
Ava rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Moving on." She held up a third finger. "Three—
I want access to information.
If you know something that affects me, I don't want to hear it secondhand."
Lucas grinned. "Now
that's
an interesting request."
Ava met his gaze, dead serious. "I don't like being blindsided, Bai."
Lucas considered that. Then—
to her surprise—he nodded.
"Alright," he murmured. "You drive a hard bargain. But I like a challenge."
Ava smirked. "Good. Because I'm not planning to make this easy for you."
Lucas
laughed
, shaking his head. "Fine,
beauty
, pick what you want."
Ava
froze.
The traders around them
raised their eyebrows.
Some smirked.
Lucas
was unfazed.
Ava slowly turned her head. "What did you just call me?"
Lucas's grin widened. "What, don't like compliments?"
Ava inhaled sharply. "I don't like being
called things
in front of people who might stab me later."
Lucas
leaned in slightly
, voice
low, amused.
"Relax. It's just good business. People treat value differently when they think it's
personal.
"
Ava
exhaled slowly.
Of course.
This wasn't
flirting.
This was
Bai controlling the narrative.
Making her seem
important to him
, making people
reconsider their approach.
Annoying.
Smart.
But still
annoying.
Ava rolled her shoulders,
refocusing.
"Whatever. Just buy me my damn tools."
Lucas chuckled. "As you wish."
Ava
should have known
that working with Lucas Bai meant
walking straight into his schemes.
Because five minutes into their
supply run
, she realized
two things:
Lucas Bai had
an absurd amount of connections.
He was
absolutely refusing to use her real name.
The
Black Market's trade district
was bigger than she expected. Not just
a few stalls and back-alley deals
, but a full-fledged
underground economy.
Weapons, armor,
pre-apocalypse tech
, even
luxuries like real coffee and preserved food
—if you had
the right connections
, you could get anything.
Lucas led the way,
moving effortlessly through the crowd
, his golden eyes
assessing every vendor and their goods.
Ava,
hood still up
, followed close, her
Blueprint System scanning everything in sight.
[Analyzing Inventory...]
[Advanced Toolset – 93% Functional]
[Reinforced Tactical Vest – Lightweight, High Durability]
[Prototype Energy Cells – Unstable Power Source]
Ava whistled under her breath. "Bai, this place has
everything
."
Lucas smirked. "Welcome to the real economy,
Beauty
."
Ava
stiffened.
There it was again.
"Stop calling me that," she muttered.
Lucas
ignored her completely
, already approaching a
weapons vendor.
The trader, a
broad-shouldered man with burn scars along his arms
, looked up. "Bai. Didn't expect you back so soon."
Lucas smiled lazily. "Needed a few things for my
Beauty
here."
Ava nearly
choked.
The trader's gaze flicked to her,
curious now.
"Beauty, huh?"
Ava clenched her jaw. "That's not my—"
Lucas threw an
arm around her shoulders, grinning.
"You know how it is. Can't have my best asset running around without proper protection."
Ava
wanted to kill him.
But the trader
relaxed
, the scrutiny fading.
Lucas was
doing this on purpose.
Keeping her
name out of circulation
, making it seem like she was just
another one of his investments
—valuable, but
not worth digging too deeply into.
Ava exhaled slowly.
Fine. She'd play along.
For now.
She
shrugged off his arm
and pointed to the
toolset on the table.
"I want that."
The trader grunted. "Expensive."
Lucas flicked a
coin-sized token onto the table.
"Done."
The trader barely hesitated before nodding. "Pleasure doing business."
Ava grabbed the tools,
trying not to feel impressed.
Lucas turned to her, golden eyes
glinting.
"See,
Beauty
? Isn't shopping with me fun?"
Ava
smiled sweetly.
Then stepped on his foot.
Hard.
Lucas winced, but laughed.
Ava ran her fingers over a
polished, high-grade multi-tool
, the kind
engineers used before the world turned into a disaster zone.
"Beautiful," she murmured.
Lucas, standing beside her,
grinned.
"Thank you,
Beauty
."
Ava shot him a
deadpan look.
"I was talking about the tools, Bai."
Lucas
chuckled
, unbothered. "So was I."
The vendor, an
older woman with cybernetic fingers
, watched the exchange with
mild amusement.
"You two here to buy, or just flirt over the merchandise?"
Ava
groaned.
Lucas
smirked.
"Buying," Ava snapped. "I need—"
She
scanned the table
, letting her
Blueprint System highlight the best picks.
[Advanced Soldering Kit – 98% Efficiency]
[Micro-Welding Set – Precision Required]
[Tactical Repair Drone – Limited Power Supply]
Ava tapped the
first two.
"These."
Lucas, not even
bothering to haggle
,
tossed another trade token onto the counter.
The vendor
raised a brow.
"No negotiating today?"
Lucas smiled. "I only argue over things that aren't worth it."
Ava muttered, "For once, we agree."
She grabbed the tools, already
thinking of how much faster she could work with them.
Lucas watched her, golden eyes
glinting.
"You look like a kid in a candy store."
Ava
rolled her eyes.
"That's because you've been making me fix things with
garbage
until now."
Lucas grinned. "Consider this a reward, then."
Ava scoffed but didn't argue.
The second they left the vendor's stall, she was already
mentally sorting through blueprints
, piecing together
what she could build with the new tools.
Lucas
watched her
, hands in his pockets, golden eyes
too damn amused.
"You're quiet," he said. "Planning something dangerous?"
Ava snorted. "I don't need
plans
to be dangerous, Bai."
Lucas chuckled. "Fair. But I like knowing where my investments are going."
Ava rolled her eyes. "Relax, boss. You'll get your money's worth."
Lucas's smirk widened. "Oh,
Beauty
, I never doubted it."
Ava ignored him, adjusting the
weight of her new gear.
With the
advanced soldering kit and micro-welding set
, she could finally
fix and upgrade equipment properly.
The tactical repair drone?
That was interesting.
It was old—probably
pre-apocalypse military tech
—but if she could
modify it
, she might be able to turn it into something
useful.
Ava glanced at Lucas. "Alright, Bai. I got what I needed. Are we done?"
Lucas tilted his head,
studying her.
"You're not curious about the case?"
Ava's fingers
twitched.
The
mystery case he had overpaid for at the auction.
Her system had
flagged it immediately
, but she hadn't had the chance to
crack it open yet.
Ava sighed. "Fine. Let's go home and see what you wasted twenty power cells on."
Lucas grinned. "That's the spirit."
And just like that, they were heading back.
Time to
find out what they had really bought.