The bell rang as a group of people walked in at once.
"MARIAH!" screamed one of the thug-looking people. "GET YOUR ASS OUT NOW!"
After a few seconds of silence, the mechanic came out from the door behind the counter.
"What the hell do ya want?" said Mariah, who looked pissed off.
"Where is our money, Mariah? We're tired of waiting for that loan we lent out over THREE FUCKING YEARS AGO!" screamed one of the thugs.
"Loan sharks," thought D-45.
"Like I said, I DON'T HAVE IT. If ya want it so bad, go ahead and ask my grandfather where he put y'all's money. He buried it in the backyard if ya wanna know," said Mariah.
"I am done waiting. I'm taking this place as collateral—it's mine now," said the leader of the loan sharks, who had been yelling the entire time.
"Over my dead body, ya brick," said Mariah before reaching under the counter for a weapon.
Instantly, everyone started firing at each other. Mariah was using a weapon that looked similar to a shotgun. Each time she fired, a cluster of beams came out, killing or injuring one of the loan sharks.
The loan sharks didn't have weapons like that—they only had simple laser beam pistols.
After what felt like forever, one of them managed to shoot Mariah's mechanical arm. As her gun fell, she tried grabbing it but wasn't fast enough. The loan shark leader managed to grab the weapon and aimed it at her face point-blank.
"It's over, Mariah," said the loan shark.
"Go to hell, Rogan," said Mariah.
As Rogan was about to fire the weapon, multiple beams shot at him, piercing through his head and body, instantly killing him.
With shock on their faces, everyone turned to see where the beams came from—and saw D-45.
"Sorry, but I can't let you kill her. She has something I need," said D-45.
Instantly, the loan sharks grabbed their weapons to shoot at D-45. However, Mariah didn't give them the chance—she instantly evaporated the remaining seven loan sharks.
Thanks to their close proximity, she managed to get every one of them. More than one didn't die instantly and suffered for a few seconds before Mariah put them out of their misery.
"Thanks," said Mariah.
"I just need the model," replied D-45.
Mariah went to the room behind the counter. She came back in a couple of seconds and threw it to D-45.
"Catch," she said.
"Multiple wounds—none fatal," said D-45's scanner.
"You should probably use a first aid kit for that," said D-45 to Mariah.
"I ain't an idiot. I know what to do," said Mariah.
"There is a chance more loan sharks may appear. Are you sure it is safe to stay here?" asked D-45.
"I know this part of town like the back of my hand. Which is why I know Rogan was the last one—so I should be fine," said Mariah.
"Now tell me, why exactly did the famous D-45 come to my shop?" said Mariah.
It came as a shock to D-45. The unit didn't know what to do.
Should I kill her? What if she tells everyone about my location? What if she already did?
Everything pointed to needing to kill Mariah, so D-45 secretly started transforming an arm, ready to strike at any second.