48 caps later Adam left the bar and headed back to the Layover to sleep. Eve's words had helped him a bit, mostly just talking to someone about this weird anxiety he was feeling had helped, but he still had trouble sleeping. Once more he wanted to jump out of bed and run to Second Life but he had to hold himself back. He couldn't rush it. He needed to give both himself and Salvatore the day off. So eventually sleep found him, though not easily.
The next day he took it as slow as he could, staying in bed, listening to Ray's radio station for a while and taking the time to finally finish his book. Then he went to eat. Breakfast today was a nice 45 cap affair, a bit pricier than usual but he splurged a bit.
Then he went to the doctor's office to buy stimpacks from her, she did not give a discount and charged 50 for each, 100 caps total. He also learned, when he stopped in to see her again, that Deccanus had been discharged, he was still wounded but not badly enough to keep him under observation, so she let him go. Where he went was a mystery but Adam was just glad he was okay. After that he headed back to Ghoul Town.
"I think it's time, tomorrow." Adam said as he approached Salvatore who was outside the Inn smoking, leaning against the wall.
"Time for what?" Salvatore said, not even surprised by Adam's sudden appearance.
"Second Life. The whole reason I came to Midway." Salvatore took a long drag of his cigarette before putting it out.
"You sure you ain't rushing things, kid? You have been going out every other day, throwing yourself into one dangerous scenario after another. I can keep up. But I'm just making sure you ain't running yourself ragged."
"I appreciate the concern" Adam said as he let out a soft sigh and then leaned against the building. "But I don't plan on waiting any longer. I came here for a reason and despite all the other things I have done I don't think I can put it off any longer." Salvatore nodded solemnly.
"Well that's fine then." He got off the wall and then turned to look at Adam. "Just making sure." He grinned.
Adam left shortly after that heading back into the city, he had one last stop to make before he could say he was prepared for tomorrow.
"Well how can I help you today Adam?" Jay asked as Adam walked into his show holding his badly bent rifle that he had stuck in the treads of the yet-to-be-named Rae so as to prevent them from killing him.
"I was wondering if you could fix this." Adam said skeptically as he put the rifle down on the table. He could have fixed it himself but unless he had a new barrel there was nothing he could do. Jay might have another answer that he overlooked though.
"Wow." Jay said, almost impressed as he picked up the rifle and examined the bent barrel turned almost 30 degrees. "Hell of a thing you did. What did you do? Use it to pry open a door?"
"No, I used it to stop a robobrain in its tracks by shoving the barrel into the tread links." Adam said matter-of-factly.
"Well that'd do it." Jay chuckled. "The short answer you are looking for is yes, I can fix it." Jay said as he put the gun back down. Adam was surprised.
"You can?"
"Yes. But i'll be honest with you, repairs would be more expensive than just buying a new barrel and installing that. Or hell…" He looked at the rifle again. "The woodgrain has begun to crack, you might be just better off buying a new rifle at this rate. Unless you got a special attachment to this one there's not much worth in trying to fix it up." Adam sighed and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that was my thinking too. I was just hoping you had another option for me." He looked at the wall of weapons. "I guess I need to buy a new one then, how much is it going to cost me?"
"To get the same kind you'd need to shell out 200 caps, it will be without any modifications though, those will cost extra. To get an upgrade like that one over there..." He said pointing to a semi-automatic rifle. "Will cost quite a bit more." Adam paused to consider and then shook his head.
"Maybe in the future I will redo my kit but now isn't the time. The 308 round is incredibly powerful and even if the rifle is slow it's perfect for the job I need it for. I'd rather use the pistols at close range if it came down to it." Jay nodded in understanding.
"Yup, that makes sense to me." He then looked at the broken rifle again. "I'll tell you what, for you, i'll cut down the price on the rifle to 150 and then buy this gun from you for 25. Sounds good?"
"As long as I can keep the scope." Adam countered. Jay grinned.
"Sure thing, as much as I'd like it back I doubt you'd be fine selling it back to me for so cheap."
"Give me a few minutes to detach the scope and run through my inventory to find you a replacement." Jay then took Adam's rifle and headed into the back while Adam pursued the shop. There were new weapons here that there weren't a few days ago. He had a ripper, a chainsaw knife which was used to great effect in the war. He also had a tri barrel laser rifle, which was an interesting modification that Adam had never seen before. He preferred regular laser rifles though. Maybe he could get one, one day…
"Alright, here you go." Jay said, emerging from the backroom holding the rifle and offering it to Adam. "And here is the scope, I figured you'd want to do it yourself again."
"Yeah, shame there isn't a range to sight it in on." Adam said offhandedly as he placed down 125 caps for Jay to take.
"Oh, there is." Jay said, surprised Adam didn't know.
"There is?"
"Yeah, it's down on the east End, there's a fee to get in the door and you have to use your own ammo but you can fire as long as you want once you are inside. I use it all the time to test my weapons before I sell them."
"Huh…" Adam said a moment of realization was washing over him. "Well then… I guess I can go do that instead of firing outside the walls like last time." Jay grinned.
"Might help." He chuckled.
"Well thanks for everything Jay, hopefully I will see you again soon."
"You heading out again?"
"Oh. Yeah." Adam said as he paused and turned to turn back and look at Jay again. "I'm heading to my old workplace, Second Life, it might have some answers I have been looking for," Jay nods.
"Well I can't say I know where that is, but just stay safe out there, Adam." Adam chuckled softly and turned to walk out as he raised a hand to him.
"Will do, Jay. Will do."