Chapter 24…
It had been two days since Team VHLT and Team MARS had hung out. The Vytal festival was fast approaching, with only three weeks of preparation left before the entry qualifiers.
Mauve had been nagging the team incessantly about increasing their training time, to the point where she had claimed sole authority over planning training nights again. The team of four were dressed casually and ambled towards Beacon's weapon workshop, finally ready to begin constructing the new weapons they had been speaking about.
"Asher?" Rust asked as he walked beside his friend. "You're still okay with joining the tournament, right?"
"Yeah," Asher replied. "Wouldn't be fair of me to hold you guys back over some past misdeeds."
"We can smack you if you start asking like an asshole again…" Sage offered.
"Only Mauve's allowed to do that…" Asher joked.
"Yeah! Only I get to punish him!" the lynx girl shot back. The suggestiveness of this retort made Asher blush, prompting Sage and Rust to howl with laughter.
The laughing slowed to a quiet chuckling as Team MARS neared the workshops. It was a weekend, which meant that there were no class schedules to fumble around, but the halls were still packed with crowds of students that MARS had to maneuver through. Stopping outside the workshop and waiting for a crowd ahead of them to dissipate, Rust decided to continue pushing the conversation.
"Damn Asher," Rust grinned. "You really let Mauve discipline you for bad behaviour? Sounds like someones getting whipped."
Rust accentuated his point by flicking his wrist and making a "wachoo" noise, getting a glare from his dark-eyed friend and a chuckle from his team leader.
"What about you Rust?" Asher snarked back. "Didn't Vermillion tell you to shave off that moustache you were growing because she didn't like how it felt? I'm the one who's getting whipped?"
Asher did his own whipping impression. Rust felt chagrined when Sage jumped next to him and joined in. Discontent to let his green-haired friend not be mocked, Rust turned his wrath on him.
"Why are you whipping at me Sage?" Rust rumbled while pointing his finger. "You're saying I'm whipped? Your girlfriend has started dressing you… in that!"
What Rust was referring to was the shirt Sage was currently wearing. It was a checkered button up that had been given to him by Honey as a gift. The shirt fit him pretty well, but the garish orange and green colour combination was jarring to look at.
"Whuh…!?" Sage gasped as he grasped his shirt. "This was a thoughtful gift!"
"Nah… I'm with Rust on this one…" Asher chuckled with a raised eyebrow. He jumped away from his shocked friend to attend the side of his towering teammate. The two were about to start making whipping noises when their irate team leader interrupted them.
"Boys… please," Mauve begged, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "You're all equally pathetic and emasculated… give it a rest…"
"Even me?" Asher pouted. His puppy dog eyes had little effect on Mauve, receiving a flat glare in return.
"Especially you… now enough standing around!"
Cutting off any retorts with a raise of her hand, Mauve stepped forwards and pushed the door to the Beacon workshops open. The workshop had the same floor size of a small warehouse and was divided into zones for easy organization. The massive workspace included a bullet making press, forge, shooting range, 3d printer and any other conceivable machine or facility for students or personnel to use.
Team MARS filed over to the workbenches, where blueprint paper and writing utensils were readily available. Standing at one bench was a familiar dark haired girl, bouncing from foot to foot as she scribbled on a piece of parchment.
"Ruby!" Sage called, getting the younger girls attention immediately. The red reaper took off in a flurry of rose petals, landing in an uneven wobble in front of Team MARS.
"Hey!" Ruby replied as she regained her balance and turned towards Mauve. "You ready? Did you bring them? I've already drawn up some designs if you want to see them!? What caliber of pistol are we talking about?"
Mauve blinked and smiled, "yes, yes, absolutely yes and… probably nine millimeter because it's what I'm used to."
"Say no more… lets go!" Ruby yelled. She seized Mauve's right hand and in a flurry of rose petals they were once again standing at the workbench. Mauve looked a little disoriented but shook her head and slid her blades out of their sheathes to present them.
"Well… we should leave them to it…" Sage muttered as he turned towards his male teammates. "Don't suppose you guys are still up to helping me?"
"I'm not helping you…" came Asher's flat reply.
"What! You said you would… this was your idea!"
"Do I look like I know anything about rotary grenade launchers?" Asher chuckled. "That's a design that's completely alien to me…"
"Rust?" Sage asked incredulously.
Rust made a rude chortling noise with his lips and held up his hands. "Nada."
"Then what am I going to do?"
A noise began to grow louder amongst the talking of the three boys. While it was most definitely the patter of feet, it wasn't out of the possibility that it could be mistaken for a charging freight train.
"Hang on…" Asher held up a hand as the noise came closer and closer. "I said that I'm not helping you… who is the one person we know that uses a grenade launcher."
"Oh no…" Sage gasped, eyes widening.
"Oh yes!" called Rust.
"Come on!" Roared a new voice as the noise grew deafening. With a pained yelp Sage was yanked towards a workbench by none other than Nora Valkyrie, the redheaded girl babbling incoherently.
Asher and Rust watched in slight fascination before turning away.
"Was that cruel? That felt a little cruel…" Asher muttered.
"Nah… leading him on was fun… it's not like we left him alone or anything, Nora will help," Rust soothed. "You got any plans? Wanna grab coffee?"
"Actually," Asher muttered. "I could use your help."
"Oh?"
"I considered asking Yang but she doesn't have the firing mechanisms I need… you on the other hand…"
"I'm guessing that this involves shotguns…"
"Bingo."
"You know what you want?"
"Something concealable, preferably."
"Say no more… let's go see if there are any pre-made ones… if not, we'll get to work."
The two sauntered off to a different door.
"So… mechashift?" Ruby asked.
"Sounds good."
"Dual pistol knives, exactly alike?"
"If possible… I can do the engravings, I have experience with that sort of stuff."
"You said nine millimeter, that's still good with you?"
"It's the size of bullet I have the most experience with."
"One last thing…" Ruby trailed off. "I assume you don't want your old blades pulled apart to use the metal?"
"You can do that?"
"I can… but it's totally up to you…"
Mauve was pensive for a moment. "Probably not… I want to keep the old ones just in case."
"Say no more then!" Ruby chirped.
Ruby went over the schematics with Mauve, showing her the different forms the weapons would take and how the interlocking parts would move and shift. It was far more complicated than her old blades, but Mauve had seen Asher fumble around with his different holsters too many times and didn't want to waste precious time in battle. With everything settled Ruby and Mauve moved deeper into the workshop to begin constructing prototypes.
"-and then BAM! That grimm went flying into oblivion… but I wasn't done with him yet!"
Sage yelped and flattened his body low to the ground. It was just in time, as the striking head of Nora's mighty hammer occupied the space his head had been a moment ago. So far, the short redhead had "helped" by recounting a nonsensical story and swinging her weapon around with complete disregard for his safety.
Sage was seriously wondering if his established trust in Asher was misplaced.
"-of course… me and Ren can't go anywhere near that village… they'll imprison us for sure! Stupid ethical rights code… are you listening or what?" Nora questioned, arching a quizzical eyebrow at the prone faunus boy.
"Uh yeah… that was riveting," Sage mumbled and got to his feet. "I hate to sound ignorant… but what does any of this have to do with building a grenade launcher?"
"Wait…?" Nora mumbled. "That's what I'm here for?"
"Why else would we be standing in the workshop?"
"Pancake party…"
"What?"
Nora's glare took on an increasingly dangerous quality, making Sage sweat a little bit. "You're telling me that pancakes were never a part of this arrangement?"
"Asher was the one who set it up!" Sage babbled, hoping to take the heat off himself.
"Did he now?"
"Yeah…"
"Do you think Mauve will get mad if I horrifically shatter every bone in his legs?"
"Well duh… he'd be mad too, I think…"
"I'm not taking his well being into consideration anymore…"
Rapidly realizing that this situation was turning south, Sage clapped his hands together and shot Nora a nervous grin. "Look… maybe I can buy you some food later… but would you be willing to still help me out? You're the only person I know who has experience with this stuff."
Nora looked curiously at him but nodded in agreement. She collapsed Magnhild back into its grenade launcher form, showing off the weapon to Sage.
"So," Nora muttered, spinning the ammunition drum with her hand. "This is the spinny bit… where the fun begins."
Well… any information was good information… no matter how insane.
"-so yeah… I want to get in on the shotgun scene."
"Fair enough… chances are there's a completed one in the Beacon armory already… you would just have to saw down the barrels." Rust added.
Asher wanted a new addition to his small arsenal. His fight against the deathstalkers and the King Taijitu made it clear that he needed a faster close range option. His pistol and bayonet could do a lot of damage over time, but that required finesse.
A sawed off shotgun on the other hand… one squeeze of the trigger and everything it was pointing at would cease to be a threat. Asher had seen Rust's shotgun in action and it had consistently eviscerated everything in its projectile path… a weapon with such close range efficiency would be invaluable.
"Really?" Asher asked. "Beacon keeps this kind of stuff in lock up?"
"I wouldn't put it past them, a lot of students like to build weapons off existing templates rather than from scratch… saves time and effort."
"Is the armory nearby?"
"A few doors down… I'll show you…"
Rust led Asher out of the workshops and back into the bustling Beacon hallways, maneuvering around students and faculty alike. A short ten minutes later and they were outside a different door. Rust opened it to reveal a well organized armory, with complete walls of weapons and a grouchy looking quartermaster.
Asher approached the older man to inquire about his new weapon.
"What can I do for you?" the scarred man asked, narrowing his eyes as he did so.
"I'm looking to build off an existing design… you wouldn't happen to have any shotguns in there? A double barrel would be preferable…"
"Gauge?"
"Pardon?"
"See if you can dredge up a twelve gauge!" Rust suggested, slapping a supportive hand on Asher's shoulder.
The quartermaster grumbled in acknowledgement and stalked off into the rows of weapons. Rust didn't remove his hand from Asher's shoulder, getting a curious look from his friend.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing… I'm just so proud…"
"What?"
"Baby's first shotgun…"
Asher groaned and rolled his eyes. Rust removed his hand when the quartermaster stumbled back into sight, a long barreled shotgun clenched in his hands.
"This work for you?" the old man grumbled, sliding the shotgun into Asher's outstretched hands. The weapon was a classic design with two side-by-side barrels and a hair trigger. The rifle broke away from the stereotypical farm gun look through the use of smoothly applied black metal and a composite grip rather than archaic wood.
Asher nodded in appreciation as he weighed it in his hands. "Looks good to me… is there a cost involved?"
"Nah."
"Really?"
"It's included with you being a student here," the quartermaster explained. "Most of these guns are military surplus weapons, when the council can't find a place for them they're resold to Beacon… it's included with you being a student here."
"Alright then," Rust smiled. "Thanks for your help… we'll be heading out."
The quartermaster mumbled a goodbye and got back to doing… whatever he was doing. Rust and Asher left the armory and began making their way back to the workshops again. If they had been walking down the street with such a weapon they would have gotten strange looks, but over-the-top implements of death were a common sight at Beacon.
"So, do you know what you're going to do with it?" Rust asked.
"Saw down the barrel and replace the stock with a pistol grip… don't suppose you could help?"
"Sure thing, I'll point you in the right direction! Where are you planning to store it… during battle, I mean?"
"Have you ever spent time in the prison system?"
"Even by my standards of joking around… gross dude."
Asher just laughed in response.