Chapter 123

The second Silencer took about the same length of time to make as the first, although the Copperhead already had everything ready for the detachable Silencer. The Copperhead’s muzzle was already detachable. So I just unscrewed the old one, and made the silencer grooves the right length to screw right on.

 

When I was done. I pulled it into a shooting stance.. It was heavier than the old muzzle, but nothing excessive. It was getting late, but I didn’t feel like sleeping, so I grabbed my gear and headed out of my room.

 

“Where you going?” Jun called out from the couch as I walked in, and I shrugged.

 

“Shooting range. I made a silencer for my rifle, and I want to give it a test run.”

 

“Huh.” Jun replied as he stood up and walked over looking at the Copperhead that I was carrying in one hand as I held a box of ammo in the other. He moved in to take my rifle and I just sighed as I lifted it up so he could take it and look it over.

 

“You made this?”

 

“Just the silencer. I made one for my Lexington as well.”

 

“Not your Burya?”

 

“Pfft. The Electromagnets interfere with baffling tech. You can’t put a silencer on any of them.” I said with a shrug.

 

“Shame. This is cool. Want to make one for your amazing big brother?”

 

I crinkled my nose as I looked him over. “Why do you even want a silencer? You don’t fight sneaky.”

 

“Maybe I want to start.” He said with a smirk that told me that was a lie.

 

“You just want a silencer to show off how cool you are.”

 

“I want a silencer to show off how preem I am.” He agreed instantly without even attempting to deny it.

 

“Fine. Go get whatever you want one for. I’ll start making it before I head to the range.” Jun grinned at me as he ran into his own room and then to my surprise came out with a weapon I didn’t know he even had.

 

“When did you get this?” I asked, looking at the Malorian Overture that was… Well it was in Tyger Claw colors. Ugly was my first thought, but I wasn’t going to be mean to Jun.

 

“Fujimura-Sama gave it to me a while back. I don’t really use it though. So?”

 

“Nope.” I denied instantly. Laughing a bit as Jun’s face fell. “It’s not that I don’t want to make a silencer for you Jun, but look.” I pointed out the Overtures barrel. “Can you see the problem?”

 

“There isn’t anything to attach the silencer to?”

 

“Exactly. I would have to completely remake the barrel. Normally not a huge problem but this is a Malorian revolver. The entire upper receiver is a solid piece of metal, cause Malorian is extra like that. That means I would have to remake the whole thing.”

 

“I’m not seeing the problem here.” Jun offered and I waved a fist at him, making him back off.

 

“That’s a lot of work, and while I’m pretty sure I could do it… Give me some time and I’ll see what I can do. Until then, keep your revolver.”

 

“Fine. But you better remember!”

 

“I will. Jeeze. Okay. In that case-” I said, making my way towards the door. But Jun interrupted me with a grin.

 

“Let’s hang out at the range, Imouto.”

 

My shoulders slumped. I had been planning on doing some serious grinding… “Fine.”

 

I couldn’t say no to sibling time with Jun.

 

—–

 

We hadn’t gone to the range I had been visiting. Instead Jun had demanded we go to the TC range he had once dragged me to so long ago.

 

I had agreed, mostly because the ammo would be cheaper. But when we got there, got settled in, the worst had come to pass. That which I had feared.

 

Jun was a range hog.

 

He was happily plinking away with my Copperhead. “This silencer is preem Motoko.”

 

“It would be even more preem if I got a chance to shoot it.” I muttered quietly. I had told Jun I was here to stress test the silencer, and that was a mistake because he now had a perfect argument to keep shooting every time I got bored and wanted to shoot.

 

“Just a few more Imouto. Gotta see how your silencer handles it right?” He replied happily and I just glared. He was acting like a kid at a candy store. Which… Like I’m happy that Jun is able to look like a kid, but I really wanted to kick him in the shins for hogging my gun.

 

“Kusanagi, and the little Kusanagi. Good to see you back.” Grizzled gun range guy greeted us walking up as he looked over Jun’s shooting.

 

“Jun decided to join me.” I offered grumbling at my gun hog of a brother.

 

“Copperhead? Interesting choice. They are reliable, not the best though.”

 

“It works, that’s all I really need. The silencer is new. I made it myself. Jun is helping me stress test it.”

 

“Oh? Becoming a bit of a techy huh? Good skills to have. Especially if you know how to do gun work.” I nodded. The Grizzled old man’s whole job seemed to be maintenance and work here at the range.

 

“Yeah. It’s come in useful. I’m working on modding out some of my weapons. I did a silencer for my Lexington first.” I offered, then since the man was staring interested in the silencer at the tip of the Copperhead I pulled the Lexington silencer off my gun belt, and offered it to him.

 

He accepted it without another word. Quickly finding the latch to open it up and check the electronics, and going over the little device.

 

“Not bad.” He finally offered after a minute of looking through it. “You made it out of a printer right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I can tell from the construction. Those things aren’t bad, Quality can take a hit if you aren’t careful though,” he said giving me advice.

 

“Hey, not bad.” Jun called out as he checked his score on the electronic targets.

 

“It could be better.” The man cut in before Jun could properly enjoy his score. “You’ve been jerking the trigger on every shot. It’s pure luck your chrome is heavy enough you aren’t missing every shot. Back to it, Kusanagi. There is no excuse for such shoddy marksmanship.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

 

I nodded along at the critique, until I realized it would mean Jun would keep shooting my gun.

 

“Try with a different gun. I would like to shoot my Copperhead at some point today.” I grumbled, and Jun chuckled at little as he put the rifle to the side and pulled out a Unity from a holster on his back and then began taking slow ponderous shots.

 

I wanted to groan as I realized Jun was going to take forever. Looking around the range I sighed. Every other lane was still taken, which means I would just have to wait.

 

“Bored?” I was asked and I nodded a little before he chuckled. “Come with me then.” The old grizzled man offered and walked back into his little office.

 

I considered it. Jun and I were hanging out…

 

But Jun was also being a scopmuncher right now so I followed, entering into the little office covered in guns and equipment to maintain said weapons.

 

I blinked interested as he walked over to a Masamune that was up on a clamp.

 

“You ever see one of these?”

 

“Arasaka Masamune, yeah. Never played with one though. Always thought they were a little overengineered.”

“Heh. Lot of kids have an opinion on one until they actually get their hands on them. Come over and tell me what’s wrong with this one.”

 

I blinked at the sudden challenge and shrugged. The Masamune was Arasaka’s pride and joy. An assault rifle that was engineered the shit out of. Incredibly light. Incredibly tough.

 

Expensive as shit, and as I said it was the sort of weapon that was engineered to hell and back. I wasn’t really a fan to be honest, but as I started running my hands over her. Gun Nut filling in a ton of information about the weapon I was holding I had to admit.

 

Araska did know how to make a good rifle.

 

It was probably a good ten, or twenty grand more than I would pay for a rifle, but you paid it for a reason.

 

Thankfully Gun Nut’s specialty was knowing whether a gun I picked up would fire in the heat of the moment, so just touching the Masamune told me what the problem was.

 

“Someone had an accident.” I muttered, as I pulled it from the clamp under watchful judging eyes. I pulled out the receiver, looking around I found a tool kit nearby and scooped it up, grabbed a screwdriver, unscrewed literally a dozen little screws.

 

Fuck you too Arasaka engineer.

 

And finally managed to pull open the upper to find the problem. Shrapnel had gotten into the firing assembly.

 

I pulled a piece out and whistled.

 

“Someone was lucky. Piece of bullet shrapnel right into the firing assembly.”

 

“You spotted it quick. They replaced the part of the upper receiver that was damaged and it wouldn’t shoot. They couldn’t figure out what happened so brought it to me.” He agreed nodding as I then sighed, a few more moments to check the chamber to make sure nothing else was damaged. I started the long task of putting this thing back together.

 

The best part of course was my reward.

 

*100 Technical Ability XP Gained*

 

“You needed me to look over your weapons last time you were here. Saratoga if I remember right.”

 

“That sounds right? Do I even still have the Saratoga?” I muttered to myself. Did I still have the Saratoga? I vaguely remember seeing it during the move. It was probably in my closet with most of the other weapons I had collected and didn’t use very often.

 

“You know how to handle a weapon. You didn’t need me to check them.”

 

“Ah.. I’ve learned a lot since then.” I muttered. “And Jun is always overprotective.”

 

“Hmm. If you ever want some work, come by. I could use an assistant.”

 

I opened my mouth to ask if he could even afford me, but honestly Grizzled gun range guy was cool for a TC guy.

 

“I don’t know if I’ll take you up on that, but I appreciate it.” Then again it could be a good excuse to grind some XP.

 

He just nodded in acceptance. “It’s on the table if you want it.” Then without another word he pulled another rifle down off the racks around the room. An Ajax this time and started working on it.

 

I thought about it.

 

Jun or guns…

 

I walked over and after checking it with Gun Nut, I worked with him on fixing the problem on the Ajax.

 

—–

 

“I can’t believe you left.” Jun grumbled at me, as we walked out of the hidden TC range.