RWBY:Rascal

"Did you see me break that? That's right!"

From the orc mek's address to the common boyz.

We spent the next day fixing the workbench. Even though it was modular, even though I knew how to turn nuts in the previous world, and even though Roman could build a bomb from improvised materials in this one, it didn't change the facts - a stolen Atlas-designed industrial workbench was still a stolen Atlas-designed industrial workbench. And that meant that you'd never find parts for it, there were no manuals or instructions, and some of the fasteners and clamps were arranged as if the assembler had to have either tentacles or Unity with the Force to be able to use telekinesis. Or some specific manifestation. But what can you take from them, in many places they already have robots on the assembly line, and those who have tentacles, they could screw a fluggeheimen or some other perversion instead of manipulators.

No, of course, the workbench worked fine even with such damage, the same "printed" baton clearly testifies to it, but I'm not so fucked up that I'm trying to synthesize sarin or soman (I'm not sure what will work yet) on damaged equipment. I'm already highly unconvinced that this is a good idea, or rather, I'm convinced that this idea sucks. But for now, that's all I can think of as a counterargument to Cinder, Taurus, and other fucking critters. The repairs were interspersed with breaks for lunch, ice cream, and smoke breaks. I ended up just printing out the necessary module on the workbench, and then I welded it in place, because I couldn't bear to wiggle the knot to rivet the plate on the inside of the unit.

But it was surprisingly pleasant to relieve stress and tension in a new training fight. And the fact that they were not wiping the floor with me as vigorously as I had feared - the more often and tightly you use skills, the more naturally they fit into your world order. Why didn't I think of that right away? Apparently, the stress of relocation was much more serious than I thought. Or was it, on the contrary, the aftereffect of being possessed by dragon wishes finally wearing off? Anyway, the use of heavier weapons against Neo was becoming more and more effective with each "approach". The girl, of course, was learning and adapting, and even doing it much faster than I was, but the fact that I was physically stronger and my Aura was bigger and more powerful was not going away. What was worse was that I somehow caught myself thinking that a couple of Prahva charges for a sudden surprise to the enemy in the cane could be installed. Fortunately, re-reading the "Ashes for Dummies" manual sobered me up, at least this time. But my hands were still itching to paw... no, Neo, not you... or rather, you too, but I meant something firearms. Except that a standard heavy pistol would only scare a civilian without Aura and scare away some weak and harmless Grimm, as harmless as possible for these creatures. When dealing with the Gifted, it's better to use either something small-caliber, but wildly rapid-fire, in order to destroy the protective field by the number of hits, or something killing: rifle, shotgun... rocket launcher there. Of course, the type and quality of the ammunition plays its role, but still... I had some thoughts about it too, maybe I had been hit too hard on the head lately, but I found them very attractive. More about them later, though.

On the third day we were honored with a visit from the boss lady herself, as I assumed she would be, along with her tame pet.

"Oh, Cinder, you're as beautiful as ever!" - It was automatic to bow and kiss her hand. - "I see you got yourself a pet? "

"Grrr," - if looks could kill....

" I suggest you get him vaccinated, I'm no expert, but it looks a lot like rabies!"

"Adam, calm down," she reprimanded the faun already reaching for the hilt of her katana. - "Roman," the icy stare on the pretty face with the sweet smile burned me, "that's enough. Mr. Taurus has graciously agreed to help you in your predicament. His brethren will be your much-needed 'hands'."

"So I'm the director of the zoo now? A brilliant career move!"

"One more word, human," - wow, that's rage - "and you won't be saved by her patronage either! "

"Yeah, yeah," I had to admit, it was fucking hard to feign contemptuous disdain when standing next to a pissed off psychopathic man-hater and also being the very person who had pissed him off. But without Torchwick messing with the faun, he'd look... odd, to say the least. - "So, how many movers will I have? "

" Half a hundred... for starters," Fall replied instead of the battle bull.

" A lot..." - I light a cigar, not without amusement at the way Taurus wrinkles his nose at the smell of smoke.

"Afraid you can't handle it?" - Are you sure he's a bull and not a snake? A large, horned snake.

" No, I'm afraid your animals won't have the brains not to get punctured, lead the cops to the warehouse, or blow up on Prah, which means you'll have to break up the crypts into lots of little stashes."

" Cinder, I'll send a lieutenant over to coordinate things. If I stay here another minute, you're going to have to find a new petty crook to run your errands," and the proud fucking revolutionary left, gritting his teeth.

"Cretin," I sigh. - "But strong."

"He's...useful," the woman replied in a mesmerizing voice, "just like you, Roman. And I'd hate to see my... allies and partners," - well, well - "squabbling over nothing. Be kind enough not to provoke him any further."

"All right," I shrug, "if anything, you won't see us fight."

"And you're not hopeless," a sharp fingernail traced down my cheek and froze at my chin, a highly erotic movement, except that I felt like I had a bear's paw at my throat. Armed with the Power Claws of Warhammer, a rogue bear. Hungry, "but still, don't go overboard."

"As you wish."

"When can we expect more?" - She changed the subject.

"Depends on how organized these... revolutionaries are," Cinder smiled, seeing my efforts to name these fucking terrorists properly. - "Personally, I'm ready to go shopping right now, but... I don't think it'll be until early next week at the earliest."

"Somebody's gonna have a rough Monday."

"And that 'someone' is me," I didn't have to mimic how 'excited' I was about the whole thing, I was actually 'excited' about the situation. - "Maybe I'll just hire vagrants and street kids. They'd be more useful and less trouble."

"No, I'll need White Fang, just a little later. Let them get used to it."

" Eh..."

"Well, well, well, don't be so upset, the payment for your efforts will be quite generous," the half-Deva smiled promisingly.

" That's good to hear. Speaking of nice, why don't we have dinner together? I know a nice restaurant..." - but don't say yes, for God's sake, don't say yes!

" Maybe some other time, I still have things to do for today," - smiled on duty and sent off to the erotic pedestrian (I hope). Phew, that passed.

" Too bad, but until next time then, Cinder."

"Goodbye, Roman," we nodded to each other and said our goodbyes, and only after the door closed behind the guest did I allow myself to me-er-slowly slide to the floor, leaning my back against the wall.

" (o_o)?" - Neo was here, fountaining a whole cascade of questions... somehow I was once again ironcladly sure of it.

" No, Neo, I don't want to have an affair with that woman, I'd rather start dating Taurus... and that way my ass will be safer."

" (O_O)"

"And anyway, I've got you and Hood, any sinister aunts can go to the woods! The Emerald Forest! Or Eternal Autumn! As long as it's far away," - uh-huh, to the Sinister Dark Tower in the center of the Cursed Lands, for example. Except Cinder was already there, back rested and magnetized, I mean, with gifts and valuable instructions.

"(O_o)?"

"Of course I didn't forget about Dragonlance! How could you think that!" - I did not deny myself the right to interpret the expression on the girl's face as I please. - "But it's complicated, and you stole the ammunition, so now I'll have to develop a whole operation to besiege a woman's heart," I took out another cigar, lit it and puffed it greedily. - "And that's a tricky business, you have to think. My charisma and beautiful eyes alone won't be enough."

" ..."

"What, you won't even be jealous? "

" (^_^)."

" Well, it's not interesting like that," I exhale bitter smoke, 'you're too good for an asshole like me.'"

" (-_-)..."

"No, I wasn't going to suffer about it, I'm an asshole, remember?"

"(-_-)..." - The sound of "palm hitting face."

"Well, well, let's have some ice cream and get back to our... pardon me, my sinister experiments, or we might be out of it soon, and we'll have some leftist people wandering around who don't need to know what we're doing here... umm... in every sense.""

"(-_-")..."

" And yes, thank you Neo, you're a great conversationalist. "

" (^_^)."

After Cinder's visit, pulling myself together wasn't easy, but at the same time, the distinct realization that honestly and even 'honestly' I wasn't going to nail her made me shove my fears where it's eternally dark and get to work. It wasn't that the lady was such a tough fighter, for all I knew, Neo had a good shot at her in the possible future. Problem was, she was a natural magician. First of all, she was a classic Ashes magician, meaning she could literally control all the Ashes around her and do real-time chimera-alchemy with it, which was a huge problem. So, secondly, she was just a magician. Classic. I mean, the kind of fantasy mage who could fly, fireballs, and other mystical nonsense that made the Aura and Manifestation abilities look like poor cousins. At least ninety-nine percent of the time, and the overall totality and variety of the arsenal of an Aura user and a mage are simply not comparable.

Fortunately, there are three and a half earthbenders for the entire world of mages, or rather, four so-called Maidens, one old invalid laborer, and a Grimm Queen.

Unfortunately, Cinder was one of the Maidens.

Or rather, she possessed half the power of a Maiden, but that doesn't make me feel any better, for she can still shoot fireballs, and those fireballs will be cooler than the local firearms and half of the heavy artillery. Plus she also has her "loyal servants", who have not the worst combat potential in the local ranking list, and personally they will cut me down with pleasure. Anyway, my nerves had a lot of room to fray.

But I was able to pull it together. I did good.

I stretched a "greenhouse" over the workbench, gave Neo a gas mask and an improvised suit of chemical defense (she looked so epic in it that I couldn't stop laughing for twenty minutes. I felt that I would be severely retaliated for it, but I couldn't help myself), put on the same suit and started to work. It was frankly scary - local gas masks are designed just to work in mines, that is, they cut off the products of combustion, methane and so on. I didn't know exactly if they would be enough to protect me from full-fledged BWB, but I decided to start with the same "homeopathic" doses, plus there was a little hope for Aura... and I also printed out a hermetic bubble for myself - if something goes wrong, I'll teleport into it; as my experience showed, I could penetrate completely closed places with ease, the main thing was to at least roughly imagine where to "unpack". And so the process began... If someone had told me a week ago that I would be in the basement, almost on my knees, to synthesize chemical weapons from improvised means, I would have sent him to be checked by a psychiatrist, but look at you....

I won't describe the process in detail. "Purify" fertilizer on the workbench, isolating the desired elements, add acid and alcohol, remove the precipitate and impurities. The result is a colorless transparent liquid. Another airtight bubble. Put the mouse in it. Drop in the compound. Mouse sucked in air. Mouse coughed. The mouse coughed again. Blood. The mouse twitched. The mouse twitched one last time and froze. I'm looking at the gauge. The concentration of "unknown gas" in the air of the chamber is 0.0001 mg/l. That's enough for a mouse. By all means, human trials are required, preferably with Aura... but that's too much. Activate a small Ashes charge, the temperature in the chamber is 600 degrees, zoman decomposes at 150, it should be enough. Just in case, spray alcohol in the chamber and working area - this stuff is resistant to water, but in ethanol it decomposes into harmless components. I leave the "greenhouse" and take off my gas mask.

"(V_V)..." - Neo did the same thing, the look in her eyes now... complicated.

"Yeah, I knew about this stuff before," I cover my eyes, "and also that if I'd sold the recipe to certain people, we'd have enough to last us for the rest of our lives... if they hadn't buried us there. But I may be a bastard, but even I have some principles," - though I can't speak for the canonical Roman, he did organize the breakthrough of a crowd of cannibal monsters into the center of a human city, and then another, and in the second case he also broke the defense systems, turning them against the people themselves. But I'm not him.

"(v_v)..." - serious nod. - "(о_<)?" - A questioning look in his eyes.

" Yes, it's a 'last chance weapon' and an argument used when nothing else is left. Now you realize how much I dislike our 'business partners'.""

"(>__<)..." - A nod and a characteristic gesture across her throat. Good girl.

" I'm working through it too, but it's not a sure thing. Besides, I don't know the whole chain behind Fall. But back to what you saw."

" (-_-)..."

"No, I won't ask you not to tell anyone, hehe. I know you're a good and sensible girl, but... if you smell freshly cut hay or apples in the air without seeing the apples, run away from there... and then chew the baelena and drink its decoction until you vomit... it's an antidote that can send you to the grave if it fails, and no one else in this world has such a "toy", but... fuck it, it'll make me feel better. " The girl nodded seriously. - "Alright, I'll shell a dozen grenades now, and... let's go get a bulk supply of ice cream to cure the nerves, shall we? See? I realize what a difficult boss I am, and I'm trying to smooth the effect!"

"(^__^)!"

"That's great," I pulled my gas mask back on and went to the 'greenhouse'. Invisible Death grenades won't create themselves... hmm, I'll have to make some smaller ones for the under-barrel grenades. And restock the gas masks.

But even such an unpleasant procedure can't last forever. Having put away the "last argument" in my storage, I burned the "greenhouse" and "working chamber", and then started the factory reset on the workbench. Because the smart machine to facilitate work and help the operator memorizes the movements carried out with it. Of course, I mixed the poison by hand, but also what is on the workbench, understanding what to look for a reasonable person will give a lot. If spare parts for the Atlas machine were not available, I would have changed the hard drive and drowned this one in acid. Just in case, I have a strong feeling that I'm letting the genie out of the bottle. But no. Okay, then we'll litter the disk with standard drawings and modifications.

Anyway, having finished with the unpleasant, we went to my sinister maid's favorite ice cream parlor, where we spent the rest of the evening experimenting with the "thermal conductivity" of my subspace storage. Fortunately, Neo's illusions were with us, and the staff didn't suspect anything at all.

***

Alas, it's not just the moments that tend to end, but quite the opposite. No, of course, after eating ice cream together... how "together" can it be when it comes to Neo, there was the sharing of a bed, the "chaste kisses goodnight"... ahem, remember to be concerned with the right products, I'm not ironclad, and if this keeps up, it's all going to lead to a natural ending that you have to be prepared for, yes.

But back to the end of a good thing. After waking up and having breakfast together, I was already thinking of inviting the lady to another session of beating a certain charismatic red-headed bastard, when a guest appeared....

" Uh-huh..." - I considered the "uncle" seven by eight, eight by seven. Roman himself was not a small man, but this "closet with a mezzanine" simply overwhelmed. It made his eyes twitch. - "Please tell me you weren't walking down the street like that."

" I'm from Taurus," the giant muttered.

" I got it. Only that asshole would have the brains to send one of his... fellow minds in the White Fang uniform to me. You could have organized a grand entrance, with fireworks and musicians," - no, I understood that the ordinary fang fighters are not starry-eyed, after all, recruiting uneducated individuals with extremely low social status as 'meat' is a standard practice of terrorists, proven by the Taliban and other Alqaeda. But goddamn it, it's like a lieutenant is a full-fledged officer, albeit a junior one.

"Grrrrrr."

" Don't growl at me, you animal. I'm as thrilled to see you as you are to see me. But business is business, and you're gonna have to work for me... unless, of course, you want your buddy to get in trouble with a certain lady."

" Hor-r-r-okay," he quelled his anger and looked at me again. - "Only for his help to you, the commander wants one favor."

" Your commander can want anything, I have different superiors. But try to surprise me. What's the steer want? He wants to steal some high quality hay? "

"Death to the traitor!" - the big guy pulled a crumpled photo out of his inside pocket and handed it to me. - "White Fang wants Tucson's head!"

" And I'm supposed to do that?" - I accept the rectangle, running my eyes over the pedigree face with sideburns. - "Well, well..." - I flip the photo over and admire the address on the back... You're kidding, right...? - "Well, I'll see what I can do with it sometime," like getting the man to take a dump in some asshole and pretend he's a ficus. - "Now back to our sheep... and the other members of your esteemed group. What's required of you, you know?"

" Yes, we need to rob the stores that sell Ashes," the lieutenant who never introduced himself nodded. I wasn't really interested in his name, though. I didn't need it.

"It's worse than I thought," I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Torchwick's memory made me weep or swear foully at my "interlocutor's" statement. I, even though I was not in love with Roman's character, had to admit - there was really something to swear about... By the way, why am I not embarrassed at all that I'm about to organize mass theft of weapons on a large scale, and even committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy? No, I understand that a citizen of a country in which an entire aircraft carrier can be stolen from a shipyard in pieces through a hole in the fence (a real fact!) will have nothing against the expropriation of something like that, but somehow everything is too easy for me to accept. As if in some sort of spell... though at this point, making a move is still not recommended.

" Uh?"

" The store only stocks what it can realistically sell in a week. Maybe a little extra to fill the display case. We need a lot more than that."

"Oh, the Ashes train!" - The faun "got it."

" Oh, Black Dragon, give me patience... I'm talking about wholesale warehouses! A couple or three of them will cover your needs for six months, and a dozen will allow you to send half the city into orbit. There's also port warehouses, but they're more crowded, hence the risk. The only problem is that they're guarded pretty well, and it's not easy to know exactly when they're full and when they're almost empty."

"So what do you want us to do?"

"Information I'll organize, access... it's more complicated, it would be nice if your pets were hired as cleaners and movers, except there's no idiot who would hire a faun for a warehouse with Ashes - thank your boss. So we're gonna have to do this another way. But first, no White Fang uniforms on operations. You want to use masks, use masks, but only 'faceless' or normal bandanas."

"But why?"

"Because, my strong but definitely dumb friend, a gang of gopos who decided to raid a warehouse and push Ashes or use them in a fight among themselves is one thing, but a squad of a terrorist organization, which is the White Fang, for some reason extracting large quantities of weapons right in the city is quite another. And so much so that not only the cops might be interested in such a case, verstehen?"

" Yeah..." - The bulky man pulled his head into his shoulders a little.

" Good, perhaps you're not hopeless. Now let's talk about escape routes and where we're going to deliver everything we need..." - I had to use Torchwick's memory and skills to the fullest. Because I'd never done anything like that in my life, and this guy could really steal an aircraft carrier... and drive it in the same day. Anyway, I spent the next three hours over the map of the city, explaining to the faun on my fingers where what lies, how to take it and where to carry it. If it all works out, I can get my hands on a couple or three more... containers of Ashes along the way. It'll definitely come in handy.

Half a day later. King of Thieves' lair.

"You know, Neo, I thought I hated all racial, national and cultural minorities equally, but White Fang is definitely taking the lead. Yeahhhh, thanks... how nice" - the understanding girl silently kneaded my shoulders.

" (^_^)."

" So what am I talking about? Ah, idiots... Is that it? How!!! What kind of place do you have to think that on the eve of the start of a crucial operation that has a direct bearing on the future of your entire business, to go and..." - I covered my face with the palm of my hand in frustration. - "Disrupting a fucking action by some glamorous animal rights activists... Why, Neo? What's the point? Does it even make sense?! Uh-oh, you're the best..." - the girl's dexterous fingers found a particularly correct point between the vertebrae....

"The number of casualties is still being finalized," the TV continued to broadcast from across the room, "according to the latest reports, the police have managed to apprehend two more fauns in White Fang uniforms who took part in the riots..." - my tragic groan drowned out the anchor's speech.

"They're also wearing uniforms... Neo..."

"(o_o)?..."

" How many of these stupid animals do you think will blow themselves up while they're working?"

"(>_>)..." - The girl shook her head uncertainly, after which she raised her eyebrows.

" You think it's not that bad?" - I miserably interrogated, looking into the colorful eyes of the beauty.

" (^_^)," the girl mirrored the color of her eyes, and neat claws climbed into the hair at the back of my neck.

"Well, maybe you're right... Yeah, right, I'm a Genius, I can handle it," I mused, letting the heartache dissolve into blissful sensations. -Eh, okay," I open my eyes after a minute, "while no one's around, I'll try to work on a couple of my projects."

" (-_-)..." - The irises of both of Neopolitan's eyes turned white.

" No, not that unpleasant this time. Well, I'm off, don't miss me!" - Having kissed the girl, I really sat down at the long-suffering workbench, having previously stuck another cigar in my teeth.

The "closer acquaintance" with the battle sisters went well, even very well, if you remember my reputation, and at the same time I managed to learn something important about my own Manifestation - I can shove into a spatial pocket even things infused with someone else's Aura. It wasn't that I hadn't tried it before, of course, I'd practiced it with Neo before I went out, but it was one thing to be extremely loyal and favorably disposed to you, and quite another to be distrustful and aggressive. Aura and Manifestation are properties of the soul, and where there is a soul, there must be feelings nearby, so the idea might not work out. It was better to learn about it in the warmest possible conditions than to be surprised when Taurus rips your head off with his katana. Nevertheless, everything went perfectly, except that it took a little more of my own Aura to seal it than I was used to, apparently because of the additional cost of overcoming the resistance of the object powered by the Aura. But that was the end of the good news, which was no surprise, otherwise it would have been too thick. As it was, it was fat and satisfying. And if we bring it to the point, it will be a song at all.

But let's get back to the current topic. Even though I turned out to be not so worthless as I feared, and Manifestation allows me to always carry a "crowbar in my sleeve" and a couple of other nice chips on top, but I didn't become madly in love with close combat. And as the experience of my world shows, firearms give much more opportunities. There, of course, did not take into account that the infantryman can be his own tank, but the general concept remains. Besides, the local technology allows to pack a big six-barrel machine gun into a lady's purse. Speaking of handbags. The manifestation of the beauty in stylish black glasses, which in the team still has a girl rabbit that a couple of times glimpsed in the cartoon, is also a spatial pocket. Albeit operating on slightly different principles... maybe. Okay, let's stay focused. What's my point? I'm getting at the point that I need to get my own gun, but what kind was the question. All kinds of grenade launchers and rocket launchers are discarded at once - with the speed and reaction of Hunters, they can be useful only at a distance of twenty or thirty meters, well fifty at most. Here it will be easier to use grenades with different stuffing, including my "gifts". All kinds of small-caliber rapid-fire weapons were not very interesting to me, even though I can carry more ammunition than "not enough" or even "not enough, but it doesn't fit anymore", just such weapons imply close and medium distances, maybe even combined with close combat. Shotguns of various designs have the same problem. The rifles, on the other hand, have made me happy. I'm just not sure that an anti-tank rifle will help against the same Cinders and Ozpins. Hood's rifle won't get through them even with special ammunition. There's no point in increasing the caliber even more - the locals aren't idiots, despite some specific worldviews, and the Ashes have their limitations, so Ruby is already running around with the deadliest gun in his class.

But I'm not from around here and I know a thing or two. So, the challenge is to assemble a wunderwaffle on a 3D printer with a good knowledge of physics and concepts of such wonderful things as the Lorentz Force and the law of electromagnetic induction. There was only one question. Railgun or gauss? Hmmm... dilemma, though... better to start with the rail - it is easier in the current realities. Besides, they share half the parts. So, what do we need? Two meter-long conductive sticks, maybe more, a protective cover... and that's basically it. The main "kundstück", as one of my friends used to say, is that this beauty needs a good voltage source capable of producing a decent-sized pulse. In our world, we used a ship's reactor for prototypes. And the size of the machine was appropriate. But I needed a manual version, and therefore the Ashes battery was just perfect, and if you treat the conductive rails with electric Ashes... Here's the thing, the weapon doped with this substance could well be electrocuted (if there was the appropriate Ashes in the connected chamber, of course), and, judging by the halo of lightning, there was a charge of fifteen to twenty kilovolts, no less, and... and yet the weapon remained cold. That could only mean one thing. The metal doped with electrical Ashes had superconductivity properties. "High-temperature superconductor", any engineer, civilian or military, would not hesitate to give their right arm for such technology. The locals used it to coat their sword-hammers with lightning. I guess the sound of my face colliding with my hand when I realized this was probably audible in Wakuo as well....

I scored the data I needed and sketched out the blueprints. Roman's memory contained skills worthy of a maturing designer, in general, my memory told me what to do, and Torchwick's skills told me how. So the prototype was "written" literally in three hours, and then it was necessary to test it. I realized that I didn't intend to test this cannon in the city limits. If something went wrong, there would be a crowd of Hunters or anyone else I needed as much as I did. Which meant I needed to fly a little.

"Neo, get ready. We're going for a walk!" - I walked into the lady's room with a half-assembled gun. For now, I needed to work on the concept itself, so I didn't have a shroud or even a launch system - just a couple of wires to connect the Scroll for now. Good old Crooked Gun*(1), why reinvent the wheel where you don't need to?

" (=_=)..." - The girl set the book aside and raised a heavy gaze at me, followed by an equally heavy sigh. Roman had had bouts of unhealthy enthusiasm and invention before, so she wasn't used to it. Except for the scale of the destruction.

Anyway, half an hour into the bullheaded flight, we landed in a lovely clearing in the Forest of Eternal Autumn. The gold and scarlet colors were mesmerizing to behold, and the setting sun made it seem as if the world was drenched in blood. A majestic and, frankly, eerie sight.

"Gr-r-r-r-r-r..." - I was snapped out of my admiration of the surroundings by a wrenching growl nearby, I turned my head in the direction of the noise and met my gaze with glowing scarlet eyes. There was a bone mask, and something like "Empty?" even flashed through my mind, but my mind quickly rebooted and the next thought came to me - "Grimm. Or rather, a Grimm-Beowolf, a nearly two-meter tall, upright, wolf-like creature with a bone mask, thick black fur, and huge paws topped with claws the size of a grown man's index finger. It also had fangs. Big ones. Sharp. Fangs. And THIS is considered by local Hunters to be a passing monster, which is laid just a pack... By the way, and they do not go alone, right?

"Ow!" - confirmed my thoughts with a howl from behind the trees.

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooo!" - replied the neighborhood.

" (^_^)," Neo smiled and pulled out a hidden blade from her umbrella.

"L-okay," I forced myself to take a step towards the creature, gripping my cane more comfortably. It's one thing to be human, albeit armed, but it's another thing to be attacked by something like this.

" Grm?" - The creature sniffed and turned its head in my direction. Yeah... that's right, they can smell anything negative, and fear isn't exactly a positive emotion. But why do I think the grimm looks a little insecure? It didn't last long, though. - "R-raaaa!" - and my body is acting almost on its own again.

A step to the side of the ramp, the cane is tossed up and caught by the end, and then the hook hits the spine of the missed creature, turning it to dust. The creature tumbles further away, already beginning to vaporize into black smoke, and I turn my attention back to Neo and... trying hard to keep my jaw in place. The girl, as if on an easy walk, walks straight through the pack of Beowolfs that came out from behind the bushes, there a little step aside, here "a little bow", but at the same time the creatures as if by magic fall to the ground, and none of them can get up. Almost "joking" blow with a folded umbrella on the face breaks the bone mask and the skull under it, and the blade in the other hand is already out of the eye socket of the next victim, and the girl makes a new step, leaving behind two more "smoking" bodies. I was distracted from contemplation by a heavy blow in the back, sending me into a short but very humiliating flight into the nearest bushes. If it hadn't been for Aura, my head would have been lying separately from my body, but as it was, it was just a feeling of wounded dignity and the realization that a petite girl was dealing with problems while a big man was flicking his beak and staring around. But the blow, and the fact that it didn't hurt me, cleared my mind and gave me some confidence. So I looked at my new adversary. He was about two and a half feet tall and covered in spikes, and bigger and stronger overall. Beowolf-alpha, a mature and slightly evolved creature.

"Bad dog!"

"Gr-r-r!"

"Unlike his previous counterpart, this one did not lunge at me, but approached me slowly and with a fair amount of caution. That's another unpleasant feature of grimms: with age and evolution they get smarter, but it won't help the asshole. The world froze for a moment, as it happens when my Manifestation is triggered, and now I'm already three meters above the ground with my cane brought in for a blow, falling right on the creature's head. At the last moment it smelled something and even twitched, but that didn't save it - the combination of acceleration, my weight, muscular effort, and Aura pumping the weapon was very effective, and instead of the head, the blow hit my shoulder, but that shoulder was so shattered that I was able to admire the creature's liver. To be exact, its complete absence, only bright red "meat" of muscles and white bones of ribs, no lungs, no stomach and other stuff. I didn't have time to look at it, either - the familiar black smoke that spurted from the dissolving carcass blocked my view. That was the end of it - while I was having fun with the alpha, Neo finished off the rest and came over to me.

"(O_o)?"

" I'm sorry, but I was just admiring your grace and completely forgot about the world around me. "

" (-_-)..." - I was lightly tapped on the shoulder, "(^_^)," " (^_^)," and a quick peck on the edge of my lips. Understandably, the compliment counted, but a reprimand was given for general assholishness.

"Yes, yes, I won't do it again, ouch!" - Another blow, now with a folded umbrella.

" (-__-)!" - the lady was sulking.

" Okay, I'll admire you, maybe even peek at you in the shower, but not in a combat situation, okay? "

"(^_^)," - nod, a second to realize the whole phrase, - '(O_O),' - a couple more seconds to think, and... - '(^____^),' - another nod, already much more satisfied.

"Little pervert," I muttered quietly to myself, but I had to admit, I liked her train of thought a lot. - "All right, let's not relax, we need to test the toy before the grimms get here."

It didn't take long to build a shooting stand, the main thing was to get far away and hide behind the hill... just in case, and it was possible to watch through the camera on a tripod.

"Okay, test number one. Battery voltage is about fifty kilovolts, working body is an aluminum rod, weight is three grams, initial acceleration is due to the Ashes starter. The type of Ashes is Fire. Assistant, proceed!"

"(g_g)..." - The girl rolled her eyes. But she obediently pressed the button on the scroll.

" VZH-ZH-ZH-ZH! BOOM!!! WOO-WOO-WOO-WOO-WOO-WOO! PSH-SH-SH-SH!" - A cacophony of sounds, a clearing in the forest, except... why is it on the other side!

" (O_O)'."

"I'm shocked myself..." - I was watching the camera footage in maximum slow motion, so... here comes the charge, the rail jerked from the air impact, almost immediately another one and another, and then again and again, and a few more times - so, at least seven Mach, fuck, that's about two and a half kilometers per second, a little less, yes on the pilot prototype, made, of course, not on the "rubbish", but without "polish". And then "something went wrong". What exactly, I realized not immediately, just at the end of the rail formed a small fireball, which just took and went back at the same speed in the mechanism, fucking melted the weapon, the stand and flew into the forest. Judging by the smoke, there are three kilometers ...

I take a break from recording and go out into the clearing. So, over-rooted and melted shit on the place of the rail, and behind it ... neatly burned hole in the wood the size of a fist, and the heat was so great that even the burning of wood did not cause - it just turned part of the trunk material into ash and flew further ... even further ... further ... motherfucker. I had only read about this effect, and that in the section "theoretically, it is so, but in practice it is unlikely to work". I closed my eyes and it was as if I saw those lines from the article: "after voltage is applied to the rails, the projectile heats up and burns, turning into a conductive plasma, which then also accelerates. Thus, the railgun can shoot plasma, but due to its instability it quickly disintegrates. It should be taken into account that the plasma motion, or rather the discharge motion, under the Ampere force is possible only in air or other gas medium not below a certain pressure, because otherwise, for example, in vacuum, the plasma rail jumper moves in the direction opposite to the force - the so-called reverse arc motion". So getting a "reverse arc" in an airborne environment was impossible. But only the efficiency of the gun was too great, the air was torn too sharply, for a fraction of an instant creating a vacuum zone inside the "working channel" of the weapon. And these fractions of an instant were enough for aluminum, completely vaporized by the force of current and friction against the air, to turn into plasma and, without a conductive medium around, to go back along the conductor - along the rails. Yes, the plasma was unstable and didn't live long. But even a second for a fireball red-hot to at least a couple of tens of thousands of kelvin, flying at a speed of two and a half kilometers in a marked second....

" This is f*cked, comrades," I expressed the end of my thought.

" (O_O)..." - Neo nodded furiously.

" So, we'll have to refine the model, I have a couple of ideas, hmm... cut the length, no upper stage... change the aluminum to tungsten or titanium... Although it's a dickens of a job to get one or the other. What if we treat it with earth-type Ashes? Hmm... Although the original option cannot be discarded, it is only necessary to provide a conductive medium... Mm-mm... Create a leader from the category of electric Ashes? But will it be enough to "crush" the superconductor? What if we suspend the working body on gravitational Ashes? Although... in any case it is necessary to hang, otherwise the wear and tear of the barrel will be monstrous, almost disposable, although it is without Aura..."

*Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! *

"Yes, Neo?" - I turn to the girl.

"(V_V)..."

"Yeah, you're right, we should get the hell out of here, and thoughts are better thought out at home, not in the middle of the woods with a grimm in your arms."

That was the end of the "field tests", which had not even started, and we hurried back to the city. I had a lot to think about. The very possibility of realizing what in my world was considered only a fantasy, quite inspiring, for a while I even forgot that I was in a world full of demon cannibals and psychotic terrorists, and myself - a wanted criminal. Prospects dizzying, but to realize them, I needed quality metal, the stock of which in the workbench is quite scarce. Where are my dear animals with their desire for expropriation?

The next morning I got the answer, the disrespectful lieutenant said that he had organized the squads, so everything was ready, and the fighters were ready to move into position. Speaking of fighters, the more I thought about Roman's canonical "plans", and also "dug", if I may say so, in his knowledge and skills, the more I came to the opinion that he himself was very much not against sabotaging the Fall and Taurus event. In any case, otherwise I can't explain why he didn't bury that renegade Taxon... No, it could still be connected with unwillingness to get dirty in premeditated murder... But after organizing the breakthrough of the hordes of grimms to Vale such an argument looks so bad, but.... Let's say he didn't know about Cinder's plan and didn't want to get dirty until the last minute, but with his experience he didn't think of the idea of ordering the beasts not to wear their battle garments... Even I, far from all this criminality, saw this moment at once, and Torchwick was obliged to come to the same thought. But that's not all. The canonical run on Atlas's stolen super-robot down Vale's highway... That's even cooler than the glowing billboard that says "terrorists have Atlas's most advanced weapon, check your place for leaks!!!". I'm not even talking about the fact that if Roman had been working seriously, he would have taken down Ruby's team without any help from Neo, without even breaking a sweat in the process. But no, he chose to "tactfully" retreat at the very moment when he had already swamped the street with evidence, tipped off several hundred witnesses, and made sure that it was all guaranteed to fall into the hands of the Bicon leadership. Except that Ozpin and Ironwood were either sitting on their asses (but I still hope they're not such cretins), or the results of their inspection were somehow not weighty. Either they were not announced in the canon, but the latter is unlikely, since further events say that the local leaders were caught with their pants down. Uh-huh, at the "shitting all the polymers" moment.

In short, there is an opinion that Roman was well aware of everything and understood what was going on, but he could not jump out for the reasons I have already described earlier in the form of unknown number and level of Sinder's agents and her master, nor could he throw away at the most opportune moment. If only because he didn't know the right moment, because he was only aware of the half-Deva's plans on a necessary-sufficient level. I was doing much better... That's why the plan of sabotage will be different. And for starters, we should reduce the number of White Fang fighters. It doesn't matter if they were tricked into joining the organization or if they are ideological fighters for all good against all bad, but the fact remains that these fauns are ordinary killers, no matter what ideas they hide behind. Those who have realized what they've gotten themselves into have left the organization, like Blake and Tucson, so the rest of the rabid beasts should be put to sleep. Just to avoid it. I don't know if it was Torchwick's racist tendencies or my "love" for all kinds of Islamist-jihadists that made me realize it, but the idea to reduce the population of Beloklykovites did not cause any rejection. But only for this purpose it was necessary to collect more information, on bases, contacts, sympathizers, methods of selection and training, and then to organize their fun. So, first of all, we had to prove our professionalism and reliability, that's why we sit on our asses and wait. Albeit unpleasant, but necessary.

A little later.

"So, my furry, scaly, clawed friend... or whatever you are," I turned to the Lieutenant. On second thought, I had made a strategic decision not to flash the fauns in front of the rank and file. Not that I doubted their ability to accept the fact that they'd have to work for a human, but the later I got caught up in the story, the better. Let the police think we're working independently, or even that we're going to have a showdown. It's not much of an excuse, but it's something, "you got the plan?"

"Yes."

"So tell me the plan, so I can be sure you're a genius," I picked it out of the vast store of ideas in Roman's memory... the kind that went under the heading of "it's gotta go well, but if it does, no harm done to the performers."

"Mike's group steals five trailers and trailers from the parking lot and races to Perry's group, who at that point carefully knock out the watchman and infiltrate the warehouse supplying the stores of Vail's entertainment district. "

" Ahem..."

" Before that, the 'hooligans' break the streetlights, allowing us to realize our advantage in night vision," the unnamed lieutenant corrected himself.

" Next."

" Lorenzo's group puts up a fight and a brawl, distracting the attention of the police, when the cops arrive they try to escape, if they fail they surrender. Since they are all newcomers, who have not been involved in any operations, the maximum they can face is a small fine and fifteen days of arrest. At that point, the first two groups take out the warehouse and spread out over five locations."

"And no random bodies," I reminded the bully again. - "Theft is one thing, but dead civilians will attract the attention of Homicide detectives, and among them are graduated Hunters, who will like your rabble a tooth," I reminded him again of the circumstances.

"And what are you going to do?" - The lieutenant, who clearly didn't like the words about the rabble.

"I'll look after you all to the best of my humble abilities. I hope you won't make any mistakes in this simple matter - then the level of nervousness of all concerned will increase, and it won't be so easy. All right, let's get to work!" - I waved my hand as if to ward off a small gnat.

"Grrr," the lieutenant growled, but obediently went to give instructions. Well, our "love" is definitely mutual, but neither he nor I can go anywhere, which pisses us both off. Ha! We have a lot in common.

At this point I left to pretend to be active, in general, there was a tempting idea to call the cops and anonymously hand over all this gang, but such a tempting at first glance idea in fact was not the most successful - it is to prove my professionalism and coolness to the customer, an excuse such as "these animals are so stupid, that they got caught by the cops in the middle of nowhere" would work, but at the initial stages the same Cinder would say that I was hired to make sure that these animals didn't screw up, and their screwup was a consequence of my own incompetence, and then the fireball would go off and Roman would be gone. Well, or the open beginning of hostilities... Even if it's just "the displeasure of my favorite bosses", it would mean a lot of problems in the middle of nowhere. No, I can't do that!

So I had to sit on the Scroll and really control the whole bunch. There were three main subtle points: the debauchees might not be able to get all the patrolmen - someone might be more interested in searching for the "hooligans" who broke the lanterns; the watchman might see something and raise the alarm; and I wasn't kidding about the crooked-headed ones who blew themselves up on a box of ashes. Still, the level of my "helpers" was a little higher than that of the city's scum, with all the consequences. So I spent the next four hours nervously squinting at the Scroll and smoking cigars one after another. And then, finally.

"Cargo delivered to destination!" - the device beeped with the Lieutenant's voice.

"Good. Let it sit for a couple days, if there are no problems, we'll move it from the holding facility to a normal warehouse, and at the same time bring me some samples, I need to make sure of the quality of the goods," - I could, of course, steal them myself, but since I'm a big boss, why not get the 'surplus' I need with home delivery and completely 'legally'? - "Congratulations, you and your buddies have earned a sugar bone."

"Fuck that ..." - I turned off the Scroll, not intending to listen to the love and health wishes from the faun.

" Well that's about it Neo," I turned to the girl, 'we are now the main suppliers of equipment for the 'revolution'."

"(<_<)..."

"Screw it, why don't we watch some comedy? Just no fauns."

"(^_^)," I nod.

" That's fine, I owe you popcorn and you owe me a choice."

" (^____^)," - hmmm, maybe her Manifestation does include teleportation after all, or at least breakneck speed. She was too fast to get everything set up. Come on, where was the popcorn supply?

Late evening in the end passed in a warm, almost family atmosphere, already in the middle of the movie the girl trustingly pressed against me and quietly asleep, I had to try to carefully carry her to bed and pull off her shoes and outerwear without waking her up. When I got undressed and got under the blanket, Neo snuggled into my tired body without interrupting my sleep, and happily sniffled, smiling in her sleep. Well, the evening ended quite well... So, don't forget to call the girls tomorrow, since it's their first day in Bicon, I should congratulate them. And a couple of touches to diversify the canonical events.

Notes:

*(1) Technical slang, the circuit itself is a start button connected directly into the circuit of the equipment by means of a cable/wire, usually from seven meters long. It is used for remote starting, usually in tests that can be life-threatening to the tester, when radio-controlled starting is not possible for one reason or another.