Mania and the Executioner (13 page)

“Great! Go ahead and make the
suppressor down there; it’s okay, I trust in his discretion.” Tia says. “Oh, and take Cheza with you.”

“What? Why?” I ask.

“Two reasons. One: you probably won’t do a good job picking out something cute. Two: Cheza would probably like to say hello…also, she is probably still a little angry about earlier and won’t really be in a training mood if you aren’t here. Sorry about that by the way.” Tia says, quietly at the end.

“Don’t worry about it. Considering what I almost did an hour ago, I’d say it was completely justified…Well, goodnight!” I say and then run away before Tia can get a
nother word in.

I
’m running towards my bedroom when Sara calls out to me from the kitchen.

“Cole? Do you want to talk about the holster?” Sara asks.

“Yeah, let’s do that quickly.” I say and we both head to Sara’s room.

Her bedroom is fitted almost exactly like mine: Bed on the right when you first enter the room, door to bathroom on left wall, desk on the back wall to the right of the bathroom door, dresser in the back right corner. We go over to the desk where she has a blueprint spread out.

“Okay, so my idea for the ‘different magazines’ dilemma was to make the pouch a hard shell with two identical sections. In each of the sections there will be a spring loaded platform the width of two magazines, which will push the magazines toward the right side of the pocket. At the bottom right corner of each pocket, there will be a hole covered in X-cut rubber. The magazines are pushed out bullet side first and the rubber acts as a stopper for the wider ‘butt’ end, which will only give when the magazine is pulled on. Each section will be able to hold a total of four magazines, but only three can be loaded at a time for the spring mechanism to work.” Sara explains.

“That sounds awesome Sara!
Although, how do you get the magazines in initially?” I ask.

“…A zipper? Yeah! That’s it, a zipper on the front of the section and then you just slide
the magazines in like batteries!…will that even work? It might fuck with the spring if the front side isn’t a hard shell…I’ll think about it. So what’s the verdict on the silencer?” Sara asks.

“A six inch pouch with a button strap to fasten it
in place when not in use?” I suggest.

“That should work well! As for the sheath for a
Sic dagger, I think holding it on with Velcro straps would be easiest. So when you make the sheath, add a loop of some kind to the top and bottom for Velcro straps.” Sara says.

“How about I just make one right here?” I ask as I grab a pair of sewing scissors off of her desk and use them to slice my left arm open. I imagine a new
twelve inch Sic dagger, but I decide to make a few embellishments. Where the hilt connects to the blade (where the cross guard is), I imagine a trapezoid shape with the large side facing towards the blade. This trapezoid I imagine into having a total of five faces, so that it looks like a pentagon from the top. When the trapezoid meets the sheath, it connects to a complimentary triangle to form a pentagonal diamond. I also put a small diamond shape pommel with the point facing away from the hilt.

The sheath forms into my left hand while the diamond Sic
dagger forms into my right hand. When it finishes forming, I solidify it and slide the Sic dagger into its sheath, locking it into place.
(5.4 Liters)

“Here you go.” I say handing Sara the blade.

“This is a pretty nice piece of work Cole!” Sara says and tries to pull the blade from the sheath, only to find that she can’t. “It’s stuck.”

“Nope,
I just made it so that it can only be opened by me. Cheza might be able to as well, but I’m not sure. This way I don’t have to worry about it accidentally falling out.” I explain.

“I just thought of something; I may need to holster my gun with the silencer still attach
ed so try to make the holster able to accommodate one. Also, design the magazine packs to be able to fit four of the 25 round magazines. How many discs will you need for Cheza’s jacket?” I ask.

“Yours used 282
discs so hers will probably need approximately 200 discs.” She informs me. I slide out 200 discs from my arm.
(3.4 Liters)

“Anyway, I’m going to bed now. Goodnight Sara!” I reach the door before Sara stops me.

“Hey, Cole? Is everything okay?” she asks.

“What? Yeah I’m fine Sara.” I reply. She isn’t buying it.

“Cole, you’re like a little brother to me, you know that right? You can trust me with anything.” Sara says. I flinch when she calls me her brother; hopefully she will just think that it was a muscle spasm.

“Can I? Can I really Sara? Or are you actually giving i
nformation to your mother that will possibly get Cheza and I killed? Are you actually a traitor that I should have killed earlier?” I want to ask, but I don’t.

Instead, I smile and say “I know. Thanks Sara.”

I know nothing.

I leave her room, feeling like shit for thinking that there would be any scenario where I should kill the woman who has been a substitute mother, teacher, and older sister to me for fifteen years.

I go upstairs to my bedroom and strip to my boxers. I’m not really tired because I slept so much today but if I don’t sleep now, I will end up sleeping in late and I have things to do tomorrow. I think for a moment and come up with a solution. I reopen the partially healed cut in my arm to replicate the diamond Sic dagger and sheathe in my usual three foot length.
(2.2 Liters)

Fuck you Ambien! A massive amount of blood loss is the ultimate solution for sleeping problems! I just realized that I no longer feel it when I cut into my left arm; I guess I’ve destroyed the nerve endings so many times that they no longer grow back. I wonder if Cheza can still feel it…

“Cole, is everything okay? You feel kind of upset…” Cheza says from behind my door.

“I’m sleeping with
you tonight because I’m worried—and for good reason! What are you thinking!?” Cheza exclaims after walking in my room and examining the situation. I guess that answers my question as to whether or not she can feel it when I cut my arm open.

“Hey there Cheza, I’m getting really sleepy so if you’re sleeping with me then get in.” I say while scooting
over to my right and opening up the covers.

“Oh, by the way, we are going to the mall tomorrow and to the gun range. Tia
Ok’d it and I’m driving. Night Cheza.” I say as I close my eyes.

“Goodnight Cole.” Cheza says while snuggling into my left side.

…

Chapter
10: Fuck the flowers, Honey!

[May 24th]

I wake up the next morning and look over to my left at Cheza, who is still sleeping peacefully. I couldn’t appreciate it last night, most likely because of my brand of sleeping medication, but Cheza is wearing a soft white dress shirt that has been unbuttoned three down from the neck. It’s just enough for me to almost see her breasts while being unfair but totally awesome at the same time.

“Cheza, we need to wake up and get going.” I tell her.

“Hmm…five more minutes.” She mumbles.

“You can’t even get any sleep in five minutes.” I point out.

“No, but I do get five more minutes in bed with you.” She replies. How do I say no to that?

As she said, we get up five minutes later. She goes to her room to get ready while I hop in my shower. I dress in shorts and a light grey t-shirt (just to switch things up), grab my gun from the holster, and head out for breakfast. I force myself to meet Sara’s face
so as to not arouse any suspicion. Cheza comes out about ten minutes later wearing capris with a light grey tank top and sits down to eat.

“Well, we need to get going.” I
announce.

“Where are you two going?” Natasha asks.

“The mall. Do you want to come?” I ask; it’s only polite.

Natasha looks from my face to Cheza’s and slowly smiles. “Nah, you two go ahead; I have some work t
hat I need to finish anyway.”

“Alright; well, we’re off!” I say as Cheza and I walk out the front door.

“Cole! Keys?” Sara shouts from the door while tossing me the keys to the Mercedes SUV.

“Right…might need these. Thanks!” I
reply after catching the keys.

I open the garage door and we head out. We go to the mall first to find Cheza a coat.

“Ooh! I like this one!” Cheza exclaims after holding a light grey, hooded, Nike jacket to her chest.

“It would look nice on you but it’s made out of spandex or something; that might be a little too tight fittin
g for it to be armored. It also might be a little too cold for Greenland.” I say.

“Well, wouldn’t it be a better idea for me to have a thin jacket that I can wear anywhere and then I’ll put a winter coat over it?” Cheza asks.

“That actually is a good idea.” I reply.

“Of course it is.” Cheza responds.

“We can get that jacket if you want, but now we need to find you a winter coat.” I say.

We find a
white winter coat with a faux fur lined hood that Cheza is content with so we buy it. Cheza and I leave the mall and head for Archer’s gun club. We walk inside and head towards the back where Archer greets us.

“C
ole! How is that G20 working for you?”  Archer asks while shaking my hand.

“And Miss Chezarei!
It has been a while!” Archer says while grabbing Cheza’s left hand and bringing it to his lips.

“Chezarei, who put this on you?”
Archer asks when he notices my ring on her finger.

“Um…Cole did…”Cheza says quietly. I always find her taciturnity towards people she doesn’t know well to be endearingly cute.

“Ah, I see!” Archer says with a broad smile. “So what brings you two here today?”

“It’s actually about my G20. I need to have the barrel modified for a silencer.” I say.

“That is certainly doable. Here, let’s go into the back.” Archer says. We follow him through an ‘employees only’ door, back into an armory that is not unlike the one at home.

“You have the gun with you I presume?” Archer asks. I nod and pull my gun from one of my cargo shorts’ pockets. “You made modifications to make it a melee combat weapon as well? What is this material made of?”

“Silicon carbide.” I reply.

“The same material that they make expensive armor plating out
of?” Archer asks incredulously; I nod. “Is this what Tia was referring to as ‘seeing something you won’t believe, in return for payment’?”

“No, actually I think she is talking about the silencer. Speaking of which, do you have one that will fit a 10mm barrel?” I ask.

“They are usually custom order. I have one in my private collection; however, it is not for sale.” Archer says.

“That’s fine; all I need to do is examine
it. Then you will get to see something interesting.” I tell him.

“Okay, but let us modify the barrel first.” Archer says.

I dismantle my gun on a nearby workbench and hand him the barrel. He walks over to some sort of drill and creates the grooves on the outside of the muzzle. He walks back over and hands it to me so I can reassemble the weapon. I realize that I am really thankful for that extra inch of barrel otherwise this would have been a giant pain in the ass. Archer walks over to a portion of his Armory and pulls a cylinder out of a drawer, comes back and hands it to me. I screw it on to make sure it’s a perfect fit, and then I take it off when I see that it is. I’m about to grab my knife when I realize that, while Tia explained how one works, I have no idea what it’s like on the inside.

“Do you have a diagram of the inside of one of these?” I ask.

“No, but,” Archer says while taking the silencer from my hand, unscrewing the tip, and taking out the contents. It looks like a dozen, half inch cones all stacked together. “Will this work?”

“Yeah this should work
just fine. Hypothetically speaking, if this conic system was to be permanent in the silencer, would it still work?”

“Hypothetically, yes it would. However, you would be unable to clean
it easily, if at all.” Archer informs me.

“Oh, that’s no problem;
when it gets dirty, I’ll just make a new one.” I say as I pull out my switchblade. I slice open my left forearm while Archer gives me this curious look.

“I hate it when
he does this…” Cheza grumbles.

I
hold the picture in my mind and start the drain. The silencer forms in my right hand and I solidify it.
(5.3 Liters)

“Well, let’s test it out
!” I say to a wide eyed Archer.

We walk over to the firing range. My gun making a kind of ‘pyu’ sound instead of the usual bang tells me that I’m successful. It isn’t completely silent though so I’ll need to figure something else out for situations in which I need to dispatch enemies without alerting their friends that are in the immediate vicinity.