Chapter 5 - Chapter 4. Courage and Sabotage.

Chapter 4. Courage and Sabotage.

 "Did you see how I broke that? That's it!"

 From an orc-mek's address to a simple boyz.

 We spent the whole next day fixing the workbench. Even though it had a modular design, even though I knew how to tighten nuts in the previous world, and in this one Roman could assemble a bomb from scrap materials, it didn't change the facts - a stolen industrial workbench of Atlas design remained a stolen industrial workbench of Atlas design. And that meant that you'd be hard-pressed to find spare parts for it, there were no manuals or instructions either, some fasteners and clamps were positioned as if the assembler had to have either tentacles or Unity with the Force in order to use telekinesis. Or some specific manifestation. Although what can you expect from them, in many places during assembly they already have robots, and the fact that they have tentacles means they could have immediately screwed on a flugegeheimen or some other perversion instead of manipulators.

 No, of course, the workbench worked perfectly well even with such damage, the same "printed" baton clearly testifies to this, but I'm not so fucked up yet as to try to synthesize damn sarin or soman (I'm not sure yet that it will work) on damaged equipment. I'm not so sure that this is a good idea, or rather, I'm sure that this idea is shitty. But for now this is all I can come up with as a counterargument for Cinder, Taurus and other fucked up creatures. The repair alternated with breaks for lunch, ice cream and a smoke break. It all ended with me, fed up, simply printing the necessary module on the workbench itself, fortunately there was nothing incredibly complicated there, after which I solemnly... welded it in place, because I was already unbearable to wriggle around with a knot to re-rivet the plate from the inside of the unit.

 But relieving stress and tension in a new training fight turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. As well as the fact that they didn't wipe the floor with me as actively as I feared — the more often and densely you use skills, the more naturally they fit into your world order. And why didn't I think about this right away? Apparently, the stress from the resettlement was much more serious than I thought. Or was it, on the contrary, the aftereffect of the infiltration through the dragon's desires that finally wore off? Be that as it may, using heavier weapons against Neo became more and more effective with each "approach". The girl, of course, also learned and adapted, and even did it much faster than me, but the fact that I was stupidly physically stronger and my Aura was larger and more powerful did not go away. What was worse was that I somehow caught myself thinking that it was possible to install a couple of Dust charges in the cane for a sudden surprise for the enemy. Luckily, rereading the "Dust for Dummies" manual sobered me up, at least this time. But my hands were still itching to grab... no, Neo, not you... or rather, you too, but I meant something firearm-like. But a standard heavy pistol could only scare a civilian without Aura and scare off some weak and harmless, as far as possible for these creatures, Grimm. When dealing with gifted ones, it is much better to use either something small-caliber, but wildly rapid-fire, to drain the protective field with the number of hits, or something lethal: a rifle, a shotgun... a flare gun there. Of course, the type and quality of ammunition plays a role, but still... And I also had thoughts about this, perhaps I have been hit on the head too hard lately, but these thoughts seemed very attractive to me. Although more on them later.

 On the third day, we were honored with a visit from the lady boss herself, as I expected, along with her pet.

 - Oh, Cinder, you are as beautiful as always! - I bowed gallantly and kissed her hand automatically. - I see you got yourself a pet?

 - Grr, - if looks could kill...

 - I advise you to vaccinate him, I'm not an expert, but it looks a lot like rabies!

 - Adam, calm down, - she pulled the faun, who was already reaching for the hilt of the katana. - Roman, - the icy look on his handsome face with a sweet smile burned me, - that's enough. Mister Taurus has kindly agreed to help you in your predicament. His brothers will become the "hands" you so lack.

 - So I'm now the director of the zoo? What a brilliant career move!

 - One more word, man - wow, that's rage - and even her patronage won't save you!

 "Yeah, yeah," he had to admit, feigning disdain while standing next to a pissed off, misanthropic psychopath, and being the very person who pissed him off in the first place, was pretty damn hard. But if Torchwick hadn't been messing with the faunus, he'd have looked… odd, to say the least. "So, how many movers do I have?"

 "Fifty… to start with," Fall answered instead of a fighting bull.

 "A lot..." I light a cigar, noting with some pleasure how Taurus winces from the smell of smoke.

 - Are you afraid you won't be able to handle it? - Is he really a bull and not a snake? A big, horned snake.

 - No, I'm afraid that your animals don't have enough brains not to get caught, not to lead the cops to the warehouse and not to blow themselves up on the Ashes, which means that we'll have to break up the caches into many small stashes.

 "Cinder, I'll send a lieutenant to coordinate the action. If I stay here another minute, you'll have to find a new petty crook to run your errands with," and the proud, motherfucking revolutionary left, gnashing his teeth.

 "Idiot," I sigh. "But strong."

 "He's... useful," the woman answered in a bewitching voice, "just like you, Roman. And I wouldn't want to see my... allies and partners," well, well, "quarrelling over nothing. Please don't provoke him any further."

 "Okay," I shrug, "if anything, you won't see our showdown."

 - And you're not hopeless, - a sharp nail ran along my cheek and froze at my chin, the movement was extremely erotic, but personally I had the feeling that at my throat now was not a well-groomed woman's hand, but at least a bear's paw. A bear-stirrer armed with the Power Claws from Warhammer. Hungry, - but still don't overdo it.

 - As you wish.

 "When can we expect new arrivals?" she changed the subject.

 "It depends on how these… revolutionaries can organize themselves," Cinder deigned to smile, seeing the efforts I was making to name these fucking terrorists as they should be called. "Personally, I'm ready to go shopping right now, but… I don't think it'll be until early next week."

 – Someone is in for a tough Monday.

 - And this "someone" is me, - I didn't have to pretend how "joyful" I was about all this, I was truly "delighted" with the situation. - Maybe I'll just hire vagrants and street kids? They'll be more useful, and less of a problem.

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

 - Eh...

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

 - Nice to hear. Speaking of pleasant things, maybe we can have dinner together? I know a nice restaurant... - just don't agree, for heaven's sake, don't agree!

 - Maybe another time, I still have things to do today, - smiling on duty, they sent the erotic one on foot (I hope). Phew, that was a relief.

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

 "Goodbye, Roman," we nodded to each other and said goodbye, and only after the door closed behind the guest did I allow myself to slo-o-owly slide to the floor, leaning my back against the wall.

 - (o_O)? - Neo was here and was gushing with a whole cascade of questions... for some reason I was again absolutely sure of this.

 - No, Neo, I don't want to start an affair with this woman, it's better to start dating Taurus... and then my ass will be safer.

 – (O_O)'.

 - And anyway, I have you and the Hood, all those sinister aunts can go to hell! Emerald! Or Eternal Autumn! The main thing is, as far away as possible, - yeah, to the Sinister Dark Tower in the center of the Cursed Lands, for example. Only Cinder was already there, returned rested and with magnets, I mean, with gifts and valuable instructions.

 - (O_o)?

 - Of course I haven't forgotten about the Dragon! How could you think that?! - I didn't deny myself the right to interpret the girl's expression as I saw fit. - But everything is complicated there, and you stole the bullets, so now I'll have to develop a whole operation to lay siege to a woman's heart, - I took out another cigar, lit it and greedily inhaled. - And this is a complicated matter, you have to think. My charisma and beautiful eyes alone won't be enough.

 – …

 - What, you won't even be jealous?

 – (^_^).

 "Well, that's not interesting," 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 "Chelodlani".

 - Well, well, let's have some ice cream and get back to our... pardon me, my sinister experiments, otherwise we might soon have no time for that, and the left-wing people will start wandering around the area, who don't necessarily need to know what we're doing here... hmm... in every sense.

 – (-_-«)…

 - And yes, thank you, Neo, you are a great conversationalist.

 – (^_^).

 It was hard to get myself together after Cinder's visit, but at the same time, the clear understanding that I wouldn't kill her honestly or even "fairly" made me shove my fears where it's always dark and get down to business. It's not like the lady was such a tough fighter, as far as I knew, in a possible future that same Neo would give her a good beating once. The problem was that she was a natural mage. Firstly, a classic Dust mage, that is, she could literally control all the Dust around her and do natural chimerological alchemy with it in real time, which is already a huge problem. But secondly, she was just a mage. Classic. I mean, a fantasy one, who can fly, fireballs and other mystical obscenities, next to which the capabilities of Aura and Manifestations look like poor relatives. At least in ninety-nine percent of cases, and the overall totality and diversity of the arsenal of an Aura user and a mage are simply not comparable.

 Fortunately, there are only three and a half earthmovers in the entire world, or rather, four so-called Maidens, one old disabled worker, and the Queen of Grimm.

 Unfortunately, Cinder was one of the Maidens.

 More precisely, she possessed half of the Virgo's power, but that didn't make it any easier for me, because she could still throw fireballs, and these fireballs would be cooler than the local firearms and half of the heavy artillery. Plus, she also has her "faithful servants", who possess far from the worst combat potential in the local table of ranks, and they would personally kill me with pleasure. In short, my nerves had a reason to be naughty.

 But I managed to pull myself together. I'm doing well.

 I stretched a "greenhouse" over the workbench, gave Neo a gas mask and an improvised chemical protection suit (she looked so epic in it that I couldn't stop laughing for about twenty minutes. I feel like they'll take cruel revenge on me for this, but I can't help myself), put one on myself and got down to business. It was frankly scary - the local gas masks are designed simply for work in mines, that is, they cut off combustion products, methane, etc. Whether they would be enough to protect against a full-fledged chemical warfare agent, I didn't know for sure, but I decided to start with the same "homeopathic" doses, plus there was a small hope for Aura... and I also unsealed a hermetic bubble for myself - if something goes wrong, I'll teleport into it, as experience showed, I could easily penetrate completely closed places, the main thing is 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 knee, synthesizing 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. "Clean" the fertilizer on the workbench, separating out the necessary elements, add acid and alcohol, remove sediment and impurities. The result is a colorless transparent liquid. Another sealed bubble. Place the mouse in there. Drop the composition. The mouse inhaled air. The mouse coughed. The mouse coughed again. Blood. The mouse twitched. The mouse twitched one last time and froze. I look at the sensor. The concentration of the "unknown gas" in the air of the chamber is 0.0001 mg/l. For a mouse, that's more than enough. Ideally, human trials are required, preferably with Aura... but that's too much. Activate a small Ash charge, the temperature in the chamber is 600 degrees, soman decomposes at 150, that should be enough. Just in case, spray alcohol in the chamber and work area - this stuff is resistant to water, but in ethanol it breaks down into harmless components. I leave the "greenhouse" and take off the gas mask.

 – (V_V)… – Neo did the same, her look now is… complicated.

 - Yes, I knew about this substance before, - I close my eyes, - and also that if I sold the recipe to certain people, we would have enough until the end of days... if they hadn't buried it there. But even though I'm a bastard, even I have some principles, - although I can't speak for the canonical Roman, after all, he organized a breakthrough of a crowd of cannibal monsters into the center of a human city, and then another one, and in the second case he also broke the defense systems, turning them against the people themselves. But I'm not him.

 – (v_v)… – a serious nod. – (о_<)? – looks questioningly into the eyes.

 - Yes, it is a "weapon of last resort" and an argument used when there is nothing else left. Now you understand how much I dislike our "business partners".

 – (>__<)… – a nod and a characteristic gesture across the throat. A good girl.

 - I'm working on it too, but it's not a fact that it will work. Besides, I don't know the whole chain behind Fall. But let's get back to what you saw.

 – (-_-)…

 - No, I won't ask you not to tell anyone, heh-heh. I know you're a good and sensible girl, it's just... if you suddenly smell freshly mown hay or apples in the air without seeing the apples themselves, run from there... and then chew henbane and drink its decoction until you throw up - a so-so antidote that, if it fails, can send you to the next world itself, and no one else in this world has such a "toy", but... screw it, it will make me feel a little calmer. The girl nodded seriously. - Okay, I'll load up a dozen grenades now, and... let's go get a wholesale supply of ice cream to cure nerves? See? I understand what a difficult boss I am, and I'm trying to smooth out the effect!

 – (^__^)!

 - That's great, - I pulled the gas mask on again and went into the "greenhouse". The "invisible death" grenades won't create themselves... hmm, I'll need to make a few smaller ones - for the grenade launcher. And replenish the gas mask supply.

 But even such an unpleasant procedure cannot last forever. Having put the "last argument" in my storage, I burned the "greenhouse" and the "working chamber", and then launched a reset to factory settings on the workbench. After all, the smart machine remembers the movements made with it to make the work easier and help the operator. Of course, I mixed the poison manually, but even what is on the workbench will give a lot to a reasonable person who understands what to look for. If spare parts for the Atlas machine were not available, I would have changed the hard drive altogether, and drowned this one in acid. Just in case, I have a very strong feeling that I am letting the genie out of the bottle. But alas. Okay, then we will litter the disk with standard drawings and modifications.

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

***

 Alas, it's not only the unpleasant moments that tend to end, but also the opposite. No, of course, after eating ice cream together... as far as it can be "together" when it comes to Neo, there was also going to bed together, and "chaste kisses goodnight"... ahem, don't forget to take care of the necessary products, I'm not made of iron, and if this continues, all this will lead to a logical ending, for which you need to be prepared, yes.

 But let's get back to the good end. After waking up and having breakfast together, I was already thinking about inviting the lady to another session of beating up some red-haired charismatic bastard, when a guest showed up...

 - Hmm... - I looked at the "uncle" seven by eight, eight by seven. Roman himself was far from a small man, but this "cupboard with a mezzanine" was simply overwhelming. And made my eye twitch. - Please tell me you weren't walking down the street looking like that.

 "I'm from Taurus," the giant boomed.

 - I understand. Only this idiot would have had enough brains to send one of his... brothers in mind in the form of the White Fang to me. You could have also organized a ceremonial entry, with fireworks and musicians - no, I understood that the rank-and-file Fang fighters are not the brightest stars, after all, recruiting uneducated individuals with extremely low social status for the role of "meat" is standard terrorist practice, proven by the Taliban and other Al-Qaeda. But your mother, here is a lieutenant, already a full-fledged officer, albeit a junior one.

 - Gr-r-r…

 - Don't growl at me, you animal. I'm as delighted with our meeting as you are. But business is business, and you'll have to work for me... unless, of course, you want your friend to have problems with a certain lady.

 - G-o-okay, - he calmed his anger and looked at me again. - The commander wants to get one favor for helping you.

 - Your commander can want anything, I have different bosses. But try to surprise me. What does the bull want so much? Does he need to steal some high-quality hay?

 "Death to the traitor!" the brute pulled a crumpled photograph from his inside pocket and handed it to me. "White Fang wants Takson's head!"

 - And I have to do this? - I accept the rectangle, running my gaze over the well-bred face with sideburns. - Well, well... - I turn the photo over and admire the address on the back... You're kidding, right?.. - Okay, I'll take a look at my leisure some other time, what can be done here - for example, make the guy run off to some ass and pretend to be a ficus. - And now let's get back to our sheep... and the other members of your esteemed group. Do you know what is required of you?

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

 "It's even worse than I thought," I rub the bridge of my nose. Torchwick's memory made me either cry or curse at the statement of my "interlocutor." Even though I wasn't thrilled with Roman's character, I was forced to admit that there really was something to curse about… By the way, why doesn't it bother me at all that I'm about to organize mass thefts of weapons on an especially large scale, and even committed by a group of people by prior conspiracy? No, I understand that a citizen of a country where they can steal an entire aircraft carrier from a shipyard piece by piece through a hole in a fence (a real fact!) won't have anything particularly against the expropriation of something like that, but somehow I'm taking it all too easily. As if in some kind of courage… although at the moment it's still not recommended to take any steps to the side.

 - Em?

 – The store only stores the stock that can be sold in a week. Well, maybe a little extra to fill the display case. We need much more.

 - Oh, the train with Dust! - the faun "understood".

 - Oh, Black Dragon, give me patience... I'm talking about wholesale warehouses! A couple of them will completely cover your needs for half a year, and a dozen will allow you to send half the city into orbit. There are also port warehouses, but there are more people there, therefore, there is also a risk. The only problem is that they are well guarded, and it is not so easy to know exactly when they are full and when they are almost empty.

 - So what do you want from us?

 – I will organize the information, access… it's more complicated, it would be nice if your pets were hired as cleaners and loaders, but no idiot would hire a Faunus for the warehouse with Ashes – thank your boss. So, we will have to act differently. But first – no White Fang uniforms on operations. If you want to use masks – use them, but only "faceless" ones or normal bandanas.

 - But why?

 - Because, my strong but definitely stupid friend, a gang of punks who decided to rob a warehouse and sell Dust or use it in showdowns among themselves is one thing, but a squad of a terrorist organization, which is White Fang, for some reason obtaining a large amount of weapons right in the city is quite another. And so much so that not only the cops could be interested in such a case, right?

 "Yes..." the thug slightly pulled his head into his shoulders.

 - Great, maybe you're not hopeless. Now let's talk about escape routes and where we'll deliver everything we need... - here we had to use Torchwick's memory and skills to the fullest. Because I've never done anything like this in my life, but this guy could really steal the said aircraft carrier... and drive it in that same day. Anyway, I spent the next three hours over the city map, explaining to the faun with my fingers where everything is, how to take it and where to drag it. If everything works out, then along the way we'll be able to "stick to our hands" a couple more... Dust containers. They'll definitely come in handy.

 Half a day later. The lair of the "King of Thieves".

 "You know, Neo, I thought I hated all racial, national and cultural minorities equally, but the White Fang is definitely taking the lead. Yessss, thank you… how good," the understanding girl silently kneaded my shoulders.

 – (^_^).

 - So what was I talking about? Oh, about idiots... Really? How?! What part of your body do you think with, so that on the eve of the start of a critical operation that has a direct bearing on the future of your entire business, you go and... - I covered my face with my hand in frustration. - Disrupt a fucking action by some glamorous animal rights activists... Why, Neo? What's the point? Is there any point at all?! Oh-oh-oh, you're the best... - the girl's nimble fingers found a particularly good spot between the vertebrae...

 "The number of victims is still being clarified," the TV continued to broadcast from the other end of the room, "according to the latest information, the police managed to detain two more fauns in the White Fang uniform who took part in the riots..." my tragic groan drowned out the host's further speech.

 - They even put on a uniform... Neo...

 - (o_o)?..

 - How many of these stupid animals do you think will blow themselves up while working?

 – (>_>)… – the girl shook her head uncertainly, after which she raised her eyebrows.

 "Do you think everything is not so bad?" I asked plaintively, looking into the multi-colored eyes of the beauty.

 - (^_^), - the girl changed the color of her eyes in a mirror-like manner, and her neat little claws climbed into my hair on the back of my head.

 - Well, maybe you're right... Yes, exactly, I'm a Genius, I can handle it, - I flowed, allowing the mental pain to dissolve in blissful feelings. - Oh, okay, - after a minute I was forced to open my eyes, - while no one is here, I'll try to work on a couple of my projects.

 – (-_-)… – the irises of both of Neopolitan's eyes turned white.

 - No, not so unpleasant this time. Well, I'm going, don't be bored! - having kissed the girl, I really sat down at the long-suffering workbench, having first shoved another cigar into my teeth.

 "A closer acquaintance" with the battle sisters went well, even very well, if you recall my reputation, at the same time I managed to learn something important about my own Manifestation - I can even stuff things filled with someone else's Aura into a spatial pocket. It's not that I haven't tried this before, of course, I trained with Neo before going out, but it's one thing to have a person who is extremely loyal and positive towards you, and quite another to have a distrustful and aggressive one. After all, Aura and Manifestation are properties of the soul, and where there is a soul, there must be feelings nearby, so the idea might not have worked out. It was worth learning about this in the most favorable conditions, and not being surprised at the moment when Taurus chops off your head with his katana. Nevertheless, everything went perfectly, except that it took a little more of my own Aura to seal than I had already begun to get used to, apparently additional costs to overcome the resistance of the object powered by someone else's Aura. But that's where the good news ended, however, nothing surprising, otherwise it would have been too thick. And so the bun turned out to be fat and pleasant. And if you finish it up, it will be a song.

 But let's get back to the current topic. Even though I wasn't as useless a fighter as I feared, and the Manifestation allows you to always carry around a "crowbar up your sleeve" and a couple of other nice features on top, I didn't become madly in love with close combat because of it. And as the experience of my world shows, firearms give much more opportunities. Of course, they didn't take into account that an infantryman can be his own tank, but the general concept remains. In addition, local technologies allow you to pack a huge six-barreled machine gun into a lady's handbag. Speaking of handbags. The Manifestation of that beauty in stylish black glasses, who also has a bunny girl on her team, who flashed a couple of times in the cartoon, is also a spatial pocket. Even if it works on slightly different principles... perhaps. So, don't get distracted. What am I getting at? As for the need to acquire your own gun, but which one was a different matter. We discard all sorts of grenade launchers and rocket launchers right away - with the speed and reaction of Hunters, they can only be useful at a distance of twenty to thirty meters, well, fifty at most. Here it will be easier to use grenades with various fillings, including my "presents". Any small-caliber fast-firing was not very interesting to me, even though I can carry more ammunition than "not enough" or even "not enough, but more does not fit", it's just that such weapons imply close and medium distances, perhaps even a combination with close combat. Shotguns of various designs have the same problem. But all sorts of rifles made me happy. But I'm not sure that an anti-tank rifle will help against the same Cinder and Ozpin. The Hoodie's rifle will definitely not get through to them even with special ammunition. There is no point in increasing the caliber even more - the locals are not idiots, despite some specifics of their worldview, and Ashes have their limitations, so Ruby already runs around with the most lethal gun in its class.

 But I'm not a local and I know a thing or two. So, the task is to assemble a wonder weapon on a 3D printer, having a good knowledge of physics and an understanding of such wonderful things as the Lorentz force and the law of electromagnetic induction. There was only one question. Railgun or Gauss? Hmm-m-m... a dilemma, although... it's better to start with a rail - it's simpler in today's realities. In addition, they have half the "spare parts" in common. So, what do we need? Two conductive rods a meter long, maybe more, a protective casing... and, basically, that's it. The main "kundstuk", as one of my friends used to say, is that this beauty requires a good voltage source capable of producing a decent-sized pulse. In our world, a ship reactor was used for prototypes. Well, the dimensions of the installation were appropriate. But I needed a manual version, and so the Dust Battery was ideal, and if you treat the conductive rails with electric Dust... Here's the thing, a weapon alloyed with this substance could very well shock with electricity (if there was the appropriate Dust 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... with all this, the weapon remained cold. This could mean only one thing. The metal alloyed with electric Dust acquired superconductivity properties. "High-temperature superconductor", any engineer, whether civilian or military, would give his right hand for such technology without hesitation. The locals used it to cover their swords-hammers with lightning. Probably, the sound of my face colliding with my hand, when I realized this, was heard in Vacuo...

 I entered the necessary data and sketched out the drawings. Roman's memory contained skills worthy of a seasoned designer, in general, my memory told me what to do, and Torchwick's skills told me how. So the prototype was "sawed off" in literally three hours, then it needed to be tested. But, having estimated even a very rough shot energy, I realized that I did not intend to test this gun within the city limits. If something went wrong, crowds of Hunters or someone else equally "needed" by me right now would show up here. And that meant I needed to fly a little.

 - Neo, get ready. We're going for a walk! - I entered the lady's room with the half-assembled barrel at the ready. For now I needed to work out the concept itself, so there was no casing, not even a launch system - for now a couple of wires were enough to connect the Scroll. The good old "Crooked Gun"*(1), why reinvent the wheel where it is not needed?

 – (=_=)… – the girl put the book down and looked at me with a heavy gaze, followed by an equally heavy sigh. Roman had had bouts of unhealthy enthusiasm and invention before, so she was used to it. Except perhaps for the scale of the destruction.

 Be that as it may, after only half an hour of flying on a bullhead, we landed on a nice clearing in the Forest of Eternal Autumn. I must admit, it was a fascinating sight, the gold and scarlet colors pleased the eye, and in the rays of the setting sun it felt like the world was covered in blood. A majestic and, frankly speaking, creepy sight.

 - Gr-r-r-r... - a guttural growl nearby tore me away from admiring the surroundings, I turned my head in the direction of the noise and met the glowing scarlet burkalas with my gaze. In addition to the burkalas, there was also a bone mask, something like "Empty?!" even flashed through my head, but my mind quickly rebooted, and the next thought came - "Grimm". More precisely, Grimm-beowolf, an almost two-meter-long bipedal wolf-like creature with a bone mask, thick black fur and huge paws topped with claws the size of an adult's index finger. And he also had fangs. Big. Sharp. Fangs. And THIS is considered by local Hunters to be a passing monster, which is simply laid out in packs... By the way, they don't walk alone, right?

 - Au-u-u-u! - a howl from behind the trees confirmed my thoughts.

 - Oooh-ooh-ooh! - answered the district.

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

 - O-okay, - I forced myself to take a step towards the creature, gripping the cane more comfortably. People, even armed ones, are one thing, but such a garbled mess is another.

 - Grimm? - the creature sniffed and turned its head in my direction. Yes... that's right, they can smell any negativity, and fear is definitely not a positive emotion. But why does it seem to me that the Grimm looks somehow uncertain? However, this did not last long. - R-raaaa! - the creature jerked, and my body again acted almost on its own.

 A step to the side from the ramp, the cane is thrown up and grabbed by the end, after which the hook falls on the spine of the creature that missed, turning it into dust. The creature somersaults further, already starting to evaporate into black smoke, and I switch my attention to Neo and... diligently try to hold my jaw. The girl, as if on an easy walk, walks straight through a pack of beowolves that have crawled out from behind the bushes, a small step to the side here, a "small bow" here, but at the same time the creatures fall to the ground as if by magic, and none of them can get up. An almost "joking" blow with a folded umbrella to the muzzle smashes the bone mask and the skull underneath it, and the blade in the other hand is already coming out of the eye socket of the next victim, and the girl takes another step, leaving behind two more "smoking" bodies. I was distracted from my contemplation by a heavy blow to the back, sending me on a short but very humiliating flight into the nearest bushes. That's what it means to be distracted, if not for Aura, my head would have already been lying separately from my body, but as it was - only a feeling of wounded dignity and the understanding that a miniature girl was dealing with problems, while a big man clicked his beak and stared around. But the blow and the fact that it did not cause me any harm, significantly cleared my head and instilled some confidence. And I looked at the new opponent. He was about two and a half meters and covered in spikes, and overall larger and stronger. Beowolf alpha, a seasoned and slightly evolved creature.

 - Bad dog!

 - Gr-r-r!

 - Well, that's enough talk, - unlike his previous brother, this one didn't rush at me, but approached me slowly and with considerable caution. Here's another unpleasant feature of the Grimm: with age and evolution they become smarter, however, this won't help the bastard. The world froze for a moment, as it does when my Manifestation is triggered, and now I'm already three meters above the ground, with my cane raised to strike, falling right on the creature's head. At the last moment, she sensed something and even flinched, but this didn't save her - the combination of acceleration, my entire weight, muscular effort and pumping the weapon with Aura turned out to be unusually effective, yes, instead of the head, the blow landed on the shoulder, but this very shoulder was twisted so that I was able to "admire" the creature's liver. More precisely, its complete absence, only bright red muscle "meat" and white rib bones, no lungs, no stomach and other offal. And I didn't have time to really look at this - the already familiar black smoke, splashing from the dissolving carcass, reliably blocked the view. That's where it all ended - while I was having fun with the alpha, Neo finished off the rest and came up to me.

 - (O_o)?

 - I'm sorry, but I was just so absorbed in your grace that I completely forgot about the world around me.

 - (-_-)… - I was lightly tapped on the shoulder, - (^_^), - and quickly kissed on the corner of my lips. Of course, the compliment was taken, but for general sloppiness they reprimanded me.

 - Yes, yes, I won't do it again, oh! - another blow, this time with a folded umbrella.

 - (-__-)! - the lady deigned to pout.

 - Okay, I'll admire you, maybe even spy on you in the shower, but not in a combat situation, okay?

 – (^_^), – a nod, a second to comprehend the whole phrase, – (O_O), – a couple more seconds to think, and… – (^____^), – another nod, already much more satisfied.

 "Little pervert," I muttered quietly under my breath, but I have to admit, I really liked the way she was thinking. "Okay, let's not relax, we need to test the toy before the Grimms come running."

 It didn't take long to quickly set up a shooting stand, the main thing was to move away and take cover behind a hill… just in case, fortunately it was possible to watch through a camera on a tripod set up for this purpose.

 - So, test number one. Pulse power is approximately fifty kilovolts, working fluid is an aluminum rod, weight is three grams, initial acceleration is due to the dust starter. Dust type is Fire. Assistant, proceed!

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

 – VZ-Z-Z-Z! BOOM!!! VOO-OO-OO-OO-OO! PSH-SH-SH-SH! – a cacophony of sounds, a clearing in the forest, but… why is it on the other side?!

 – (O_O)'.

 – I'm shocked myself… – I watched the camera footage in maximum slow motion, so… here comes the charge, the rail jerks from the air strike, almost immediately again and again, and then again and again, and several more times – that means at least seven Machs, holy shit, that's about two and a half kilometers per second, a little less, and on a pilot prototype, made, of course, not half-heartedly, but also without any "polishing". But then "something went wrong". What exactly, I didn't understand right away, it's just that a small fireball formed at the end of the rail, which just went back at the same speed into the mechanism, melting the weapon, the stand and flying into the forest. Judging by the smoke, there are about three kilometers…

 I tear myself away from the recording and go out into the clearing. So, a twisted and melted crap in place of the rail, and behind it... a neatly burned hole in the tree the size of a fist, and the heat was so great that it did not even cause the wood to ignite - it simply turned part of the trunk material into ash and flew further... even further... maaaaat. I only read about this effect, and even then in the section "theoretically, it is so, but in practice it is unlikely to work out much." I closed my eyes and as if I saw those lines from the article live: "after applying voltage to the rails, the projectile heats up and burns, turning into conductive plasma, which then also accelerates. Thus, the railgun can shoot plasma, but due to its instability, it quickly disintegrates. It is necessary to take into account that the movement of plasma, or rather the movement of the discharge, under the action of the Ampere force is possible only in air or another gas medium not lower than a certain pressure, since otherwise, for example, in a vacuum, the plasma bridge of the rails moves in the direction opposite to the force - the so-called reverse movement of the arc. So it was impossible to get a "reverse arc" in the air. But the efficiency of the gun turned out to be too high, the air was torn too sharply, for a fraction of a moment creating a vacuum zone inside the "working channel" of the weapon. And these fractions of a moment were enough for the aluminum, completely evaporated by the current and friction with the air, to pass into the plasma state and, without a conductive medium around it, go back along the conductor - along the rails. Yes, the plasma was unstable and did not survive long. But even a second for a fireball heated to at least a couple of tens of thousands of kelvins, flying at a speed of two and a half kilometers per second ...

 "This is f*cked up, comrades," I finished my thought.

 - (O_O)… - Neo nodded furiously.

 - So, we'll need to refine the model, there are a couple of ideas, hmm... cut the length, no booster module... replace aluminum with tungsten or titanium... Although it's hard to get either one here. What if we process it with Earth-type Dust? Hmm... Although the original version can't be discarded, we just need to provide a conductive environment... mmm... Create a leader from the electric Dust category? But will it be enough to "crush" the superconductor? What if we suspend the working body on gravitational Dust? Although... in any case, we need to suspend it, otherwise the wear of the barrel will be simply monstrous, almost disposable, although this is without Aura...

 *Jerk-jerk!*

 - Yes, Neo? - I turn to the girl.

 – (V_V)…

 - Yes, you're right, it's worth getting out of here, and it's better to think about your thoughts at home, and not in the middle of the forest hugging the Grimm.

 At this point we finished the "field tests", which had barely begun, and hurried back to the city. I had a lot to think about. The very possibility of realizing something that in my world was considered only fantasy was quite inspiring, for a while I even forgot that I was in a world full of man-eating demons and psycho terrorists, and that I was a wanted criminal. The prospects were dizzying, but to implement them I needed high-quality metal, the supply of which in the Workbench was considerably depleted. Where were my dear little animals with their craving for expropriation?

 The next morning I received an answer, the disrespected lieutenant reported that he had organized the detachments, so everything was ready, and the fighters were also ready to move to their positions. Speaking of fighters, the more I thought about Roman's canonical "plans", and also "rummaged", so to speak, in his knowledge and skills, the more I came to the conclusion that he himself was not at all against sabotaging Fall and Taurus's event. In any case, otherwise I can't explain why he didn't bury that renegade whitefang Takson… Although no, it could still be connected with the unwillingness to get dirty in premeditated murder… Only after organizing the breakthrough of the Grimm hordes in Vale, such an argument looks so-so, but… Let's say that back then he didn't yet know about Cinder's plan and didn't want to get dirty until the last minute, but with his experience, he couldn't have come up with the idea of ordering the little animals not to put on their combat gear… Yes, even I, far from all this crime, immediately saw this moment, and Torchwick was simply obliged to come to the same conclusion. But that's not all. The canonical run on the stolen Atlas super-robot along the Vale highway… Yes, this is even cooler than a glowing billboard with the inscription "terrorists have the most modern Atlas weapon, check where it's leaking from!!!" I'm not even mentioning that if Roman had worked seriously, he would have twisted Ruby's team without any help from Neo, without even breaking a sweat in the process, not for nothing that he had just exhausted them and tricked them into demonstrating all their skills and trump cards. But no, he chose to "tactfully" retreat at the very moment when he had already filled the entire street with evidence, wound up several hundred witnesses and made sure that all of this would definitely fall into the hands of Beacon's leadership. Just now, Ozpin and Ironwood were either sitting on their asses (but I still hope that they are not such idiots), or the results of their investigation for some reason were not significant. Or they were not announced in the canon, but the latter is unlikely, since further events indicate that the local leaders were caught with their pants down. Yeah, at the moment of "shiting all the polymers."

 In short, there is an opinion that Roman was perfectly aware of everything and understood what was going on, but he could neither jump off, for the reasons I have already described earlier in the form of an unknown number and level of agents of Cinder and her master, nor ditch at the most opportune moment. At least because he simply did not know this opportune moment, since he was informed about the plans of the half-Virgo only at a necessary-sufficient level. Things were much better for me... That is why the sabotage plan will be different. And for starters, it is worth reducing the number of White Fang fighters. It does not matter whether they were lured into the organization by deception or they are ideological fighters for everything good against everything bad, but the fact remains that these fauns are ordinary killers, no matter what ideas they hide behind. Those who realized what they got themselves into, left the organization, like the same Blake and Tukson, therefore, the rest of the rabid beasts need to be put to sleep. Just to avoid. I don't know if it was Torchwick's racist tendencies speaking in me or my "love" for all sorts of Islamist-jihadists making itself known, but the idea of somehow reducing the number of Beloklykovites didn't cause any rejection in me. But for this it was necessary to collect more information, on databases, contacts, sympathizers, selection and training methods, and only then arrange fun for them. And that meant, first of all, it was worth proving my professionalism and reliability, because for now we sit on our butts and wait. It may be unpleasant, but it is necessary.

 A little later.

 - So, my furry-scaled-clawed friend... or whatever you are, - I turned to the Lieutenant. After some thought, the team, represented by me, made a strategic decision not to show up in front of the rank-and-file Faunus fighters. It's not that I doubted their ability to accept the fact that they would have to toil for a human, it's just that the later I showed up in this whole story, the better. Let the police think that we were working independently, or even get ready to start a showdown. A poor excuse, of course, but at least something - did you remember the plan?

 - Yes...

 "Well then, lay it out so that I can be sure of your genius," I selected the plan from the extensive preparations stored in Roman's memory… from those that came under the point "it should go well, but if anything happens, I won't feel sorry for the performers."

 – Mike's group steals five trailers with trailers from the parking lot and drives them to Perry's group, who at that moment carefully knock out the guard and enter the warehouse supplying stores in the entertainment district of Vail.

 - Ahem...

 "Before that, the 'hooligans' smash the lanterns, allowing us to take advantage of our advantage in night vision," the nameless lieutenant corrected himself.

 - Further.

 - Lorenzo's group starts a fight and a row, distracting the police, when the cops arrive they try to escape, if that doesn't work, they surrender. Since it's made up of rookies who haven't shown up in any operations, the most they can get is a small fine and fifteen days of arrest. At that moment, the first two groups take out the warehouse and head off to five different locations.

 - And no random corpses, - I reminded this thug once again. - Theft is one thing, but murdered civilians will attract the attention of detectives from the homicide department, and among them there are also untrained Hunters, who don't give a damn about your rabble, - I reminded him of the circumstances once again.

 "And what will you do?" the lieutenant scowled, clearly not liking the words about rabble.

 - And I will keep an eye on you all to the best of my modest abilities. I really hope that you will not screw up in this simple matter - then the level of nervousness of all interested parties will increase, and everything will not be so simple. Well, that's it, let's go to work! - I waved my hand, as if chasing away a small fly.

 - Grr, - the lieutenant growled, but obediently went to give orders. Well, our "love" is definitely mutual, but neither he nor I can get away from it, which really pisses us both off. Ha! We have a lot in common!

 At this point I went off to pretend to be in full swing, in general, there was a tempting thought of calling the cops and anonymously handing over this whole gang, but such a tempting idea at first glance was not the best one in fact - if I had proven my professionalism and toughness to the customer, an excuse like "these animals are so stupid that the cops caught them out of the blue" would have worked, but at the initial stages, the same Cinder would tell me in response that I was hired so that these animals wouldn't screw up, and their failure was a consequence of my own incompetence, and then bam, a fireball - and Roman is gone. Well, or an open outbreak of hostilities... Even if it's just "the displeasure of my beloved superiors", it will still mean a bunch of problems out of the blue. No, I can't go for that!

 So I had to sit on the Scroll and really control this whole gang. There were three main subtle points: the troublemakers might not have pulled all the patrolmen - someone might have liked to look for the "hooligans" who had broken the lanterns; the guard might have noticed something and raised the alarm; and I wasn't joking about the clumsy ones who had blown themselves up on a box of ashes. After all, the level of my "helpers" was slightly higher than that of the city punks, with all that that entails. So I spent the next four hours nervously glancing at the Scroll and smoking one cigar after another. And then, finally...

 "The cargo has been delivered to its destination!" the device beeped in the Lieutenant's voice.

 - Excellent. Let it sit for a couple of days now, if there are no problems, we'll transfer it from the holding area to normal warehouses, and at the same time, bring me some samples, I need to make sure of the quality of the goods - of course, I could steal some myself, but since I'm a big boss, why not get the "surplus" I need delivered to my home and completely "legally"? - Congratulations, you and your friends have earned enough for a sugar bone.

 "Fuck off…" I turned off the Scroll, not intending to listen to the rest of the faun's wishes of love and health.

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

 – (<_<)…

 - To hell with it, maybe we should watch some comedy? Just no fauns.

 – (^_^), – nod.

 - That's great, I'll give you the popcorn and you choose.

 - (^____^), - hmm-m-m, perhaps her Semblance does include teleportation or at least insane speed. She rushed off to prepare everything too quickly. Oh well, where was the supply of popcorn?

 The late evening ended up being spent in a warm, almost family atmosphere, already in the middle of the film the girl trustingly snuggled up to me and quietly began to snore, I had to try hard to carefully carry her to the bed and take off her shoes and outerwear without waking her. However, the reward, when I, having undressed, climbed under the blanket, was not long in coming - without interrupting my sleep, Neo hugged my tired body and happily snored, smiling at something in her sleep. Well, the evening ended well ... So, I mustn't forget to call the girls tomorrow, after all, it's their first day at Beacon, I should congratulate them. And add a couple of touches, diversifying the canonical events