Prudence was in the middle of tightening a bolt on an engine mount when she felt someone lift the headphone off her right ear. "Hey!"

It was Ed, one of the other mechanics. He had a big sheepish grin on his face and was clearly hiding something behind his back. "Pru. So, uh, me and the guys got something for you. They wanted me to give it to you. Come on."

With a shrug, Prudence put down her wrench and followed Ed into the small break room of the motorcycle shop. "What are you up to?" she asked, pulling her headphones down around her neck as she sat down on the couch. She couldn't help but smile wryly at the large man. Ed was really just a big teddy bear of a biker; she suspected he was incapable of harming a fly.

Ed pulled a box from behind his back and placed it on the coffee table. "We all chipped in on it," he beamed, sitting down in one of the chairs. "Go on, open it."

Prudence eyed him curiously for a moment, then opened the box. Inside was a handgun, dull grey-black against the bottom of the box, its few exposed metal parts gleaming in the light of the break room. "It's an FN Five-seven USG," Ed explained as she stared blankly at it. "Semi-automatic. Light recoil, but it'll still put a hurt on someone big-time. Good gun for a novice shooter. There's an extra clip -- full -- and a box of ammo in there too."

At least he realized she had never fired a gun before in her life, let alone seen one up close and personal. Prudence looked up at him, trying to hide the shock in her turquoise eyes. "Um… I really appreciate the gift, Ed, but I don't think I need a gun."

Ed's expression went serious. "There's a lot of bad s**t out there, Pru. Me and the guys wanted to make sure you could protect yourself from it. It's not just the so-called aliens or whatever -- there's monsters out there too, and the people who say they are protecting us, protecting Earth… well, I don't trust 'em."

Prudence listened, studying the gun warily. For all the strangeness going on in Destiny City, she had yet to encounter anyone like those described in the news, whether white-suited "alien" or black-uniformed "savior" or an actual monster. She sometimes felt like the only person who hadn't run into anything strange; she wasn't so sure she needed protecting from monsters and "aliens". Hesitantly she picked the pistol up. "It's really light," she commented flatly.

Ed looked around, then leaned in and lowered his voice. "There's a bunch of us who feel that we humans would be better off taking care of things ourselves. Kinda a militia thing. Take out those monsters -- and they're all monsters, no matter what they're called," he said, determined and grim-faced. Then he leaned back and grinned at her, good ol' Ed once more. "Me and the guys are going to the range tonight -- you can come along and I'll teach you how to use your new gift."

"N-no, thanks, not tonight, I have other plans." Those plans involved going to North End Park and knitting -- plans she could have easily changed had she wanted to. Prudence put the gun back in the box and smiled at Ed. "Next time for sure," she nodded. Standing, she gave him a hug. "Thank you for thinking about me."

"Well, me and the guys, but I'll take the hugs for the team." Ed returned her hug and stood. "Um, okay so I gotta get back to work before Ace kills me. Let me know when you wanna go to the range, okay? See ya," he waved as he left.

Prudence waved back, then turned her attention back to the gun, gaze drawn to it like light to a black hole. What was she going to do with a handgun? Learn how to use it, she supposed, at least how to fire it without hurting herself. It'd be a shame for the guys to have gone through all that trouble and expense for her to just throw it in the closet. It'd be a new adventure. It might even be fun (she thought, trying to put a positive spin on the situation). And maybe Ed was right about needing protection from the weird s**t out there. Closing the box, she stashed it in her backpack, put her headphones back on, and returned to the shop floor.

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