The song and dance continued for a while, as Harold tried to foist off various pieces of his considerable arsenal onto Leon and friends. They rejected the sniper rifles, as Leon had several Barret Model 121s in his armory back home, and felt that one was unmatched by anything Harold had. He had taken a couple Ceska VZ120s though, a nice light pistol more concealable than his Beretta 101T, and it held 17 shots to boot. He also picked up 3 Steyr machine pistols, a couple Franchi shotguns, a couple stun batons, another set of light military armor to replace the one the hellhounds had burned through, and also a partial Kevlite suit and some Kevlite armor jackets that Leon was greatly impressed by.

There was something that Leon was greatly unimpressed by, however......

"30 nuyen for just a 10-shot box of REGULAR bullets? 200 for incendiary? 75 for explosive? Come on Harold, you can do better than that!"

"Afraid not chummer." Harold said, while shrugging with helplessness. "Ammo prices are up all across the continent. Quality stuff is gonna run you quite a bit over the normal prices. I had to PAY the normal prices just to get a lot of this stuff, and that's with buying in bulk."

"What the drek is going on?"

"A lot of the stupider politicians and corp guys we have are putting the squeeze on some types of ammo, and they're trying to save the good stuff for the corps." said Harold. "I read on a Shadowland post somewhere that the cost of a firefight has gone up 30% over the last year. Better get it while the gettings good, I say."

Leon sighed.

"Harold, if you're trying to screw me on this......"

"I've seen you draw your gun five times in the past fifteen minutes. If I tried to screw you, I'm pretty sure I'd suffer for it. I don't have a reputation for doing business that way. It's good for my health, see, even if its not always good for my credstick......"

Leon could read a man as well as anyone, and could sense Harold was being mostly honest. Key word: mostly. But definitely above average compared to the general fixer population. Besides, Brandon had done business with him before. He'd have to grin and bear it......

"Alright, I want 50 boxes each for rifles and pistols for the regular stuff, 50 boxes of armor piercing, 50 boxes of explosive rifle rounds, and 30 boxes of incendiary rifle rounds."

"You starting a war?" said Harold with a small smile.

"No, but I better be ready for one......"

Leon, Sylvia, and Brandon then finished haggling over prices and made the cargo swaps, loading stuff in and out of their trucks as the bodyguards supervised the whole affair.

"Sure you got everything you need?" Harold piped up, as Leon shoved a large crate of ammo boxes into the cab.

Leon was about to say yes, but then a thought occurred.

"Now that you mention it......I need something concealable......"

"Hold on, I've got just the thing......" Harold said, leading Leon back into the community hall where he had his wares. He opened up a briefcase to reveal a Cavalier Scout pistol. It was a cheap looking piece of crap, but it was better than the even crappier Streetline Special. Every low-end thug carried on their person in case of emergencies these days, usually in an ankle holster like they saw in the trideo dramas.

"It's more concealable than your average hold-out gun, takes 7 rounds, and has some actual craftsmanship. Its yours for 650."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I'll just take the one......but I need something different......You got anything that beats metal detectors?"

"Why, what for?"

"I might need to kill David Longmiles at some point."

Leon blurted it out without even thinking, but even as he said it, he realized it might very well be inevitable. It would break a lot of trust with the other Chiefs, but Leon could tell that Chief Hawksford and Chief Hillborn were fed up with Longmiles at this point, and would probably be fine with just about any other replacement, as long as they paid more attention to stuff that actually mattered instead of Leon's daily business.

Harold pondered the request for a moment.

"......I was planning on saving these for another client......but I think I can get more. And Longmiles going out would be great for business, although you didn't hear me say that......"

"You planning on trading in the AMC now?"

"Long Arms would be a willing buyer for some of this gear, but I'm pretty sure even their corrupt cops are scared of doing business with us fixers nowadays. Let me find that case......"

Harold found a fancy leather suitcase. Inside the case, wrapped up carefully within a giant sheaf of old newspaper, lay six brown derringers. Leon looked at them quizzically.

"These are based on the Walther Palm Pistol. Two shot derringer that takes Hi-C Plastic rounds, internal parts are all high-quality plastics and ceramics. Not a scrap of metal on them, and a nice concealable shape. A good patdown might find these, but if you bribe the right guy......it can work in very, very close quarters. I wouldn't count on this gun for a reload however, it gets pretty hot. This is great for a one use and toss em' job on a high profile target, with a weak spot in their chrome to punch through."

"How much?"

"6000 nuyen for the whole case, and 600 nuyen for 4 boxes of the Hi-C Plastic ammo."

Leon thought about it for a minute, and agreed, shaking Harold's hand.

All told, Leon spent a little over 85000 nuyen upgrading his arsenal, with a lot of the cost coming from the new armor and the new ammo. With the 65000 he got for the smuggled goods he raided, Leon was down about 20000 nuyen total to Harold, which was a lot of his spare savings. But it would be worth it. He had a feeling he needed every last scrap of equipment he had purchased today......

Eventually, Harold managed to get payment from Leon through a device that scrambled credstick transactions, sending Leon's nuyen across the world in circuitous and confusing fashion until it ended up in Harold's account.

"......So that concludes our business today, but I'll give you one final freebie before you go. Some info you might be interested in, for your trouble trying to get all that ammo."

"Whats the info?"

Harold leaned in in conspiratorial fashion, despite the fact that no one should've been around to overhear except Harold's bodyguards and Leon's friends.

"Word on the grapevine is that David Longmiles is trying to hire some hatchet men from the Sioux, to take care of some "shadowrunner problem" he's got. There's some interest in the position too."

"I already know that." said Leon. "I got a heads-up from a source in Long Arms."

"Did that source tell you exactly what he's getting?"

Leon looked at Harold quizzically, as he pulled out a holopix from his inside jacket pocket.

"This bad man goes by the name of Travis Bull." said Harold. "He worked a police job in Cheyenne for years, and they say he killed Kid Champa and Bart Brown Bear on a run they did last year, among others. But the Sioux turfed him because he got a little too over-zealous with his police work, left behind a few too many inconvenient bodies. He freelanced as a vigilante in the west for a while, then he got a bounty put on him by the Comanche mob down in Vegas so he disappeared. Seems Longmiles found him, and wants to hire him as a beat cop again."

"I met Kid Champa in the Salish-Shidhe a while back. He's just a punk with a gun." Leon said dismissively.

"Well that's easy for a guy like you to say, but I heard he was poison with a pistol, and he ran against Mitsuhama once. Bart Brown Bear was a top gun in the Sioux for a while too, and he hit Denver pretty hard. If this Travis Bull killed both of em' without even shooting them in the back, then hes probably good. I'd watch yourself if I were you...... If you want though, I can talk to a couple people down by the border, see if they can try to clip him before he comes into your neck of the woods."

"I'll solve my own problems." said Leon. "He's not the first beat cop that's come at me. If he wants to start something, I'll finish it. Thanks for the holopix though."

"Well, that's free, and so's the advice. You take care though, I don't want to lose a good customer to someone who won't buy from me, y'hear?"

"I hear you Harold. Pleasure doing business with you."

The two men shook hands, and eventually drove off their separate ways into the summer night......