Finding the building supplies was turning out to be harder than expected. They’d been searching for at least twenty minutes, avoiding the eyes of the Great Mechanist’s soldiers, with absolutely no luck. Obviously, this would be a great hardware store if you actually needed supplies, but for playing hide and seek with a bunch of radicalised mechanics, it was turning out to be a frustrating maze.
“Plumbing supplies, seriously?” Maphira said, letting out a sharp exhale at the latest aisle they’d discovered. “What are we going to do with plumbing supplies? Cheltenham gods and spirits, wherever you are, please guide us to where we need to go.”
“Are we seriously turning to imaginary beings for help?” said Vai, stepping forward to look at the plumbing supplies. “We could probably put some of this to good use. Piping can make a good bludgeoning weapon.”
It wasn’t what Maphira had been hoping for, but she supposed it was better than nothing. She grabbed a metal pipe and tested its weight in her hands. It would do for now.
“Let’s push on,” she said to Vai, moving through the aisle. “It’s only a matter of time before they find us again. I just wish we’d gone to my regular hardware store close to Sandringham, I know that one like the back of my hand.”
A bump came from the aisle beside them, and both women went completely silent. One of the Great Mechanist’s men had to be nearby. They crept forward, quiet as possible, and waited for the area to be clear.
They dashed forward, making for aisle 14. Maphira wasn’t sure what was here, although she hoped that if it wasn’t building supplies, it would at least be electrical ones so she could get some of the stuff she’d been sent to collect here in the first place.
But alas, this section of the store proved only to be paint supplies. How useless.
Unless? An idea began to brew in Maphira’s head, a grin spreading along her face. Oh, yes, this could be just the thing to get them out of here.