Chapter 12: R&D and R&R

The morning was calm and blissful, the sun had yet to reach the horizon so the sky was filled with orange and yellow. A nice tranquil moment to wake up to after the hellish past few days I went through, between the dangerous Grimm and the beat downs I've been getting in Goodwitch's class and without Nikita accidentally burning down half the dorm. Maybe, just maybe, my luck was turning around since it was a nice morning and that we had the day off so I could relax. Then as if Lady Luck heard me and said 'fuck that' a sharp pain shot through my ribs. I gripped my side while I sat up quickly and hissed sharply as my grip tightened in a vain attempt to alleviate the stinging sensation. After a while the feelings subsided and I sat in bed still grabbing my side, seeing if I could feel anything broken or out of place. Then I forced my self to cough and put my hand to my mouth then looked at my hand. Thankfully there was no blood which meant that my lungs were okay and I probably just had a bruised rib at worse.

I eventually pushed myself out of bed and made my way to the shower after grabbing some clothes. It was so great to have hot shower after days of running around and fighting in an abandoned town. Once I finished my shower, I walked over to my bed to look over at my ruined revolver and let out a sigh. I still need to figure out what I'm going to do with it; rebuild it or replace it. I figured it would be better for me to rebuild the damaged one as it would be cheaper and less time consuming. Sure, I'll still be limited to a total of twenty-four shots but my semblance surely helps me land those shots. I had really enjoyed the style of the Schofields plus the open top design allowed a faster reload but maybe there was something that I could add to it. There is always room for improvement when it comes to weapons but I don't know what I would want to add.

I don't want it to weight too much as carrying close to twelve pounds worth of guns on my hips plus the ammo and the belt itself is enough for me. I also don't need anything too bulky either as I rely on my maneuverability to get myself out of harm's way. I guess one thing I could do is upgrade to a higher caliber but going too high was also something I want to avoid for the sake of my wrists and ammo capacity. But then again 45 Long Colt is a decently large round for a handgun at nearly twice the powder of a traditional 45 round. I could just get heavy powder loads to increase stopping power just enough to be more effective without dealing with ridiculous recoil.

Maybe I should think about an upgrade that helps when its in its gauntlet form. Having the six shots per gun for both its standard form and melee form was far too limiting so I should focus on a way to add ammunition. That's when it hit me harder than Coco's handbag, in For a Few Dollars More, Eastwood's character has a leather hand brace so what if I had something similar that had bullets on it that fed the gun while it was in melee form. Not only would it solve that problem but it would also give me more space to carry more ammo. Granted they only went halfway up his forearms but that's fine as it would leave space between it and the rolled sleeves of my shirt keeping flexibility the same. Also having bullets stored on my arm means that I could reload my weapons faster since I don't have to pull all my bullets from my belt. It would be the perfect addition that won't add too much weight and allow the same level of maneuverability as I had prior but could keep me in the fight longer.

I knew what I wanted and now pulled out my phone and crafted a message to the local scientist telling her that I was interested in some weapon upgrades. Now all I had to do was wait for Nikita to respond which could take a while as she tends to get absorbed... and it appears that my scroll is ringing.

"Hello." I greeted.

"It is about time you decided to get upgrades for your weapons. I came up with a redesign that-"

"Easy, Nikita. I wasn't planning on doing anything with the current weapons besides rebuilding the Schofield because of the damage." I explained.

"Of course I was talking about your Schofield revolvers as the two Colt Navy revolvers you own are first generation and I assume they have been in your family for decades." Nikita stated.

I made sure to make a mental note of that and bring that up with Wednesday the next time I talk to him. "Yeah, anyway I was thinking of adding leather hand braces that would carry ammunition that could be used by the Schofields while they are in their melee form."

There was an oddly disturbing silence from Nikita's end before a gasp nearly deafened me. "Brilliant! The added ammunition of even six rounds can keep you in the fight twice as long! Also the-"

"Nikita! I understand your enthusiasm but please take it down a notch or twelve."

"Sorry. I rarely get an opportunity to upgrade weapons like this any more after leaving Signal. I will get started on it and it should be ready by the end of the week."

"Wait, slow down there. You don't have to work yourself to death, I can wait a while." I explained.

"Jakob." Nikita began. "I can not use the Dust lab as classes are being taught so I have very little to do. I am not used to having free time like this as before coming here I worked part time at my father's weapons smith shop. I guess I can be described as a 'workaholic'."

"You could just ask anyone of us to hang out with." I reasoned.

"I understand but I want to work on this first." Nikita stated. "As I said before, I rarely get to work with weapons since coming to Beacon."

There was a knock on the door. "Hold on a sec." I moved the phone away from my mouth. "Come in."

The door opened to reveal Coco dressed in casual clothing. "Hey, Cowboy what are you up to?"

"Talking with Nikita about some weapon modifications."

Coco waved her hand dismissively. "Sounds boring."

I shrugged my shoulders before returning to my call with Nikita. "I'll leave you to it, I guess."

"I will bring it to you when I am finished."

I hung up my scroll and turned to face the leader of Team CVFY. "What are you up to?"

"Looking for someone to bother. Velvet forced Yatsu to visit the school infirmary for his wounds from the mission and Fox wanted to sleep in so I figured I would bother the sister team." Coco explained.

"Well, I don't know where Oliver and Anna went and Nikita wants to bury herself in work so you're stuck with me."

"What a tragedy." Coco moaned in mock dejection. "Left alone with an attractive guy I like, woe is me."

"Yeah, poor Coco." I joked back. "What did you have in mind?"

"I'm dying for some real coffee." Coco stated.

"No breakfast?"

"Nah, I really only have time to get coffee before Shedo swings by. She offered to help me with Oobleck's History essay." Coco then tilted her sunglasses down. "That doesn't mean you can get out of those questions you still owe me."

"Come on, I thought you would have forgot about them by now." I complained.

She just smirked in response. "Next time, don't lose a bet."

I slumped my shoulders. "It wasn't fair, though." I muttered to myself as I followed Coco out the door.

Having a professionally made cup of coffee was heavenly after days of just bottled water and home brewed coffee. It was also nice to go out to get coffee and have a normal conversation with a friend while walking to and from there. It didn't take us long to have gone into town and come back to Beacon. It was the little things like this that I had missed since I first arrived. We talked... well, Coco talked about how her time at Signal since I was curious what it was like.

"Signal was great and all, but only taught sparring and weapon creation and we never fought Grimm until Beacon." Coco explained.

"Really?"

Coco nodded as she took a sip of her coffee. "They taught us about them but we mainly just practiced combat techniques and had supervised and regulated matches against each other."

"Then what did you guys do as your final? What determined you were ready for Beacon?"

"A written test on the weaknesses of the more common Grimm to prepare us for the major academies." Coco stated.

I felt myself pale. "So, the first time you came face to face with Grimm was initiation?"

"Yep. Although we were proficient in combat by then so they weren't too big of a threat, Sirens aside."

I hummed in acknowledgment as I sipped my coffee. "This has been a nagging question on my mind for a while, why do you have a minigun as a weapon as opposed to something more subtle?"

Coco rolled her eyes at the last word I spoke. "Come on Cowboy, you know I don't do subtle. Plus the amount of Dust I can dispense coupled with my semblance means I can tear Grimm to pieces without breaking a sweat."

"Makes sense."

"Of course it does." The fashionista boasted. "Speaking of weapons, since you didn't go to a combat school how did you get yours?"

"They've been with my family ever since they were first made long ago." I 'explained', remembering Nikita said they were first generation.

Coco was surprised. "Really, are they family heirlooms?"

"No, they were just sitting in an old chest in our house for years and I found them one day. They had been left forgotten for years."

"Now on to the eighth question you owe me, what was your village like?"

"It was actually pretty quiet, calm. Despite being isolated, we had a few modern comforts like AC and a communication tower. It was the hot desert that kept us mostly cut off but it also kept the Grimm out, mostly. I lived most my life without seeing a Grimm, it was nice but it was also boring."

"So when the opportunity to come to Beacon came, you took it." Coco filled in for me.

"Yep, here I am at Beacon." I finished before taking another sip of my cup of Joe.

"What did your parents think about it?"

That one caught me off guard and I had to take a second to recollect myself. "They didn't agree with it, feeling I could easily get killed but they supported me all the same. You know how parents are."

My parents had this view when I had originally told them I was interested in joining the military so I assumed it would have been their response if they were here.

"Given your behavior, I can see what they were concerned about."

"Hey, blame the movies I grew up on for teaching me that kind of stuff." I defended.

Coco rolled her eyes. "Its evident with that stunt you pulled in Sunset Coast."

"I thought you were over that?"

"Oh, I am but that doesn't mean I can't remind you of your stupidity."

I moved my hand over my chest. "Please Coco, I'm well aware of my stupidity."

Again, the brown orbs of the fashionista rolled at my comment but her lips curled into a slight smile. "Why do I put up with you? Question nine, what's with the cowboy theme?"

"Well my family had two antique revolvers and my town is in the frontier so I felt it was appropriate. Also, I have an affinity for classic western movies."

"Shocker, shocker."

"Also its a gunslinger theme, not cowboy. Cowboys were ranchers." I added.

"Details."

"Accuracy matters, ya know." Which earned me another eye roll and a smile from the minigun toting fashionista.

"Well, at least it makes sense. That doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt to let moi modify your outfit."

"What needs to be modified?"

Coco's mocha eyes peered over her sunglasses. "Mainly the boots, they just don't fit. They're also pretty worn out."

I looked down at said piece of attire and sure enough they had been through a lot. I can't remember if they were always like that or all of the shit I've been through over the past month or so did that. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to get new boots that could withstand the trials of being a Huntsman.

"You do have a point." I said looking back up at Coco.

She waved her hand. "Of course I have a point."

"I know, that's why I said it."

She huffed in amusement. "Smartass. Thanks for the coffee."

Taking a quick glance, I realize that we were in the dorm room right in front of her team's room. "Yeah, no problem and if you want any help with that essay, I'm across the hall with nothing to do."

"You're just saying that so you can be alone with two attractive young ladies for some private lessons, aren't ya?" Coco asked with glasses tilted down and sly grin on her face.

I playfully smack her should as she laughs. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"In all seriousness, I appreciate the offer but I should be fine." Coco said as she turned an walked into her dorm.

The next few days passed in a haze but at least I didn't wake up to pains in my ribs since the first day back from the mission. I never thought I would be happy to be back in school but spending a few days dealing with Grimm make a person appreciate the quiet school life. Although I could deal without the schoolwork I missed because of the mission but after a few days of doing nothing except sitting in my room working I was caught up. One thing that I had caught from the schoolwork was that, shortly following the Great War there was a brief revolution where the monarchy of Vale was restored before being stopped by the first Headmaster of Beacon, Orwell Ozymandias, who was probably a previous incarnation of Ozpin.

The oddest thing about the Aegean Restoration was its leader, Maximilian Aegean, was an occult member who had tried to search for holy objects of ancient religions. That part was not in the school's textbook so I had to look it up myself. One item he was looking for in particular he wanted to find more than keeping himself in power was what he called 'the Holy Spear of Divine Right' which must have been one of the four relics that the academies guard. I'm willing to bet both kidneys that Aegean was an agent of Salem and this was the closest known incident of the shadow games between the two coming to the surface. Come to think of it, maybe the Great War was simply a proxy war between Ozpin and Salem.

Unfortunately, I had to put the cold war for the future of Remnant out of my mind for now since I was in combat class trying my hardest to avoid getting clocked with a baton from Yurik. Of course I get put in a match against this asshole and I don't have the Schofields with me since Nikita was still fine tuning the design which she will not let me see. Either way, big angry racist asshole swinging and me dodging. I didn't need to use my semblance to move and evade his strikes as they were extremely telegraphed. However, I think he just has a mind to hit me with all he's got, knowing that it would ring my bells and take a decent chunk of my Aura.

Just like David with Goliath, I was going to let him tire himself out before I went on the offensive. The baton in his right hand swung for my face which I quickly ducked under followed by the left baton coming towards me from above. I rolled to the right, avoiding the attack before firing a round that had struck him in the ribs. He let out a curse in Russian before winding his arm back and running at me. Knowing what he was going to do next, I aimed for his weapon and shot it from his hand and it landed outside the ring. Before I had a chance to even savor my well placed shot, he had thrown the other baton which had caught my check and sent me to the floor.

I heard a dull ringing and could feel a metallic taste in my mouth before a wave of warmth washed over my face and I felt no pain and heard no ringing. However, there still was blood in my mouth which I spit out once I got to my feet. I then charged at him with my hand wrapped around the barrel of Peacemaker and when I got close enough, I activated my semblance and hit him as hard as I could on the top of his head. He squinted his eyes shut in pain but threw out a blind punch that had connected with my chest and damn near knocked the air out of me. While he was still disoriented with the pistol whip he received, I used Parabellum to shoot the last weapon out of Yurik's hand which slid across the floor and just outside the ring.

Sure enough the buzzer sounded, however I was soon too preoccupied with being tackled to the ground and having to quickly block my face from the flurry of punches. I could hear Goodwitch yelling along side the sound of people rushing to my aid and try to pry him off. With the combined efforts of Yatsuhashi, Nikita, Shedo and Goodwitch's semblance, they got the belligerent Russian off of me and Coco and Fox helped me up to my feet.

"Bezrodnyy ublyudok!" Yurik cried as he tried to fight through three people. "You will learn your place, Sobaka."

By now, both Fox and Coco were holding me back as I was drunk with rage and wanting to throw another good punch at this asshole. "Come on then, you gonna attack me after a fight like a coward or do you want to fight like a man!"

"Enough, both of you!" Goodwitch yelled to regain order.

I had quickly snapped out of my fit of rage and stopped yelling and attempting to beat his ass, while Yurik continued to cursing in Russian but also stopped trying to fight through several people. Both Coco and Fox had also let go of me at this point seeing that I had stopped.

"Will you three please help escort Mister Zagar to the Headmaster's office? I will join you in a moment. Mister Liath, while Yurik's actions are unacceptable that does not mean you have a right to act the way you did, I expect better of you." Goodwitch reprimanded.

While my anger was still present, I knew fighting back wasn't the best idea but he had it coming. I let out a calming breath, knowing if I didn't calm down I was going to get it. "I'm sorry Professor, I let my anger get the better of me."

"You know that it no excuse."

"I understand."

"This is my only warning, I will not tolerate such an outburst again, do I make myself clear?"

I let out a sigh of resignation. "Yes, Professor."

"Good, class dismissed." The blonde huntress said before turning on her heels and briskly walked out of the arena.

"You alright?" Fox asked.

"Yeah." I huffed before leaving for my dorm.

Once I had entered my room, I stormed over to my bed and flopped onto it and closed my eyes hoping to sleep of my fury. Sleep seemed like the best option right now as I'll be unable to make decisions I'll regret later. It took a while but soon enough sleep had found me.

The warm sun felt refreshing and almost nostalgic as it was similar to the warm fall days after the monsoon. However, instead of the desert of the Sonora it was that burnt forest I had dreamt about days ago. This time the wind whistled which added to the desolate atmosphere of the forest which had caused a warm chill to crawl up my spine. As I scanned the scorched husks of the dead trees, I saw something on one of them that looked like a pair of golden eyes that seemed to be staring directly at me. The heat of the sun began to intensify and that warm chill returned and I was frozen in place, feeling as if I was going to burst into flames at any moment.

"Do you believe in destiny?" The wind sang as fire came rushing towards me from the sea of black tree trunks and consumed my vision.

It was right when my eyes flashed open and my head had popped off of my pillow when there was a knock on the door. Given by the fact there was still sunlight meant I must have only been asleep for an hour at most. I pushed myself off the bed while I muttered obscenities as I trudged to the door.

I slowly opened the door and was greeted to Fox who seemed surprised with my disheveled, tired and upset appearance. How he was able to see my appearance to give that kind of reaction is beyond me.

"Hey." I groaned out.

"Are you okay?" Fox asked.

I let out a sigh. "No, not really."

"If its any consolation, Zagar is suspended from missions for a month and has two weeks of detention."

"At least he got what he deserved."

"Try to not let this get to you." Fox said, resting a hand on my shoulder. "People like Yurik aren't really worth the effort or the risk if you try to retaliate."

I nodded in agreement. "Hey, uh... thanks for the advise."

"Anytime, we are friends after all."

The next few days passed without any similar incident but my anger over the fight still lingered. It wasn't a 'fight on sight' feeling but it irritated me how attacked me after the match was over. All it proved was that Yurik was a sore loser and a coward that couldn't admit defeat. I dispelled that line of thought from my head as to not ruin my day thinking on something that already happened. Refocusing my attention, I went back to my schoolwork that I was working on to get ahead so I could have more time available later. As I was writing down an answer to a question, a metal case was slammed down in front of me causing me to fall out of my chair.

"Behold my best work since the creation of the Alternating Current Gauntlets Mark II!" Nikita declared proudly.

"I'm glad you're happy with it but you don't have to slam it in front of me and give me a damn heart attack in the process." I said as I got back to my feet.

"I seriously doubt your heart is that weak. Anyways, I have completed the upgrades that you have requested one day ahead of schedule."

I approached the case and opened to be greeted with the pair of nickle Schofields along side a pair of brown leather gauntlets that had two rows of bullets that wrapped around it. The bullets were on some kind of metal belt that also ran round the gauntlets that must have moved the bullets around and into the guns when they were in melee form. I put the gauntlets on and they were a perfect fit and they covered from the top of the hand to the middle of the forearm, they were damn comfortable too. Then, I grabbed the two revolvers and flicked my wrists which caused them to change into the melee form they used to be the the added change of the cylinder lined up the the first row of bullets. The cylinder morphed into a metal band that covered the bullets in that row, which probably fed the ammo into the gun.

"Wow." I stated as I swapped the weapons back into their revolver form. "This is badass! I can't believe this took you only several days to make."

"As I have said, I had the time to spend on this project and the experience of working with my father allowed me to spend less time in the building phase and more time testing." Nikita explained.

"You've tested them?"

"Of course. I would not give you a product that could potentially explode in your hand."

"Nikita." I began calmly. "Did it explode on you and how many times?"

"It did not explode at all."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, because I'd feel terrible if you hurt yourself working on my weapon."

"I understand but I also took the necessary precautions to ensure I would not suffer any injuries."

"Good. Oh, before I forget how much did it cost you?"

"What do you mean?"

"The materials? For the upgrades?"

"Oh." Nikita let out before raising a hand. "You do not have to worry about that."

"Come on, you spend your free time slaving away on my weapons and I offer to reimburse you and you decline?" I asked bewildered.

"Yes, I decline."

"At least let my buy you... lunch or something. I feel bad for making you have to pay out of your pocket for me."

Nikita gave a kind smile. "I appreciate the sentiment, but it did not cost me too much. Consider this... compensation for what I did during initiation."

"Knocking the air out of me isn't equal to the cash spent, that much I know."

"I take it there is no arguing with you?"

"Nope, I'm a pretty stubborn man."

"Okay, the next time the team goes out for food I will allow you to pay for my meal." She said extending a hand.

I shook her hand. "Deal."

"I think Amber may be in danger." Wednesday stated.

Ozpin looked up from his work at his old friend. "And what made you come up with that conclusion?"

"Vernon Forestall is dead, more specifically he was murdered."

Ozpin sat in silence as he analyzed the information given to him. He had assigned Forestal, a former teammate of Amber, to be the guardian of the Fall Maiden and had given them a mission to hunt down a Goliath that was too close to a village. Why they weren't together Ozpin had found odd, but he was grateful since that kept the Fall Maiden away from Salem's agent.

"Is there anything else about Forrestal's death?"

"Three different weapons used, so three attackers. Whoever they are scared the hell out of the witnesses because no one is talking." Wednesday said as he collapsed into a seat. "Vern was a good kid, he didn't deserve to go out like that."

"No good man ever does." Ozpin consoled. "I'll try to get in contact with some one close, while you try to get a hold of Amber and inform her what happened."

"We both know who closest."

Ozpin let out a light sigh. "Qrow's been out of contact for several weeks, he could also have been killed."

"He's not that lucky. He's probably preoccupied with a bottle or some bar girl."

"Even more reason to find someone else, this is a matter of importance. I can't wait on him to finally answer his scroll." Ozpin explained.

"Oz, if we tell him what's going on he'll respond." Wednesday defended. "He knows the severity of this situation."

Ozpin placed his hand on his chin. "I'll inform Qrow, but I'll try to get somebody in as backup. If they made quick work of Forestall then they are extremely dangerous."

Wednesday nodded and made his way over to the elevator to leave. Ozpin sat in contemplation for a moment. How did Salem know who was protecting Amber and where to find them? Where did these three assailants come from since the little information about the attackers doesn't match what he knows about Salem's associates. This was worrying, if Salem was allowing her members to act so brazenly then she is planning her final move. If the Fall Maiden is being targeted then Vale is the center of this scheme so he would have to keep a tighter eye on the kingdom.