Nate looked at the pile of parts he had free reign over.

Mantis had left him after she finished her cryptic line a day quota. Presumably to go hang out with people she found less annoying.

Nate riffled through the pile of gun parts, yes he did the pun on purpose and found several he was particularly interested in.

One was the interesting frozen trigger he had observed when he had walked into the room. The other parts he found were a massive frame that seemed to be extremely hot, a clip that was around twenty rounds big, and a barrel with a scope and silencer on top of it. Fused to the very barrel itself.

With that he had found all the parts he needed to make a working gun, so he got to it.

He first attached the frozen trigger to the steaming hot barrel, which didn't work for self-evident reasons, so he had to improvise something new. The first thing he did was apply basic glue to it, the stuff you found at stores that sold school supplies.

He should've figured it wouldn't work, the cold temperature of the trigger froze any glue that touched it for several minutes while the steaming hot frame melted the glue off before it could dry.

Causing the glue to spill onto the other frozen glue. Which resulted in a tug of war between both parts as the trigger tried to freeze everything and the frame melt everything.

Nate had to stop pouring in more glue as the battle between hot and cold would've damaged the gun parts.

The next thing he did was try to put space between the frame and trigger while still having both work. Nate inserted an insulated frame that he had cut off and shaped to fit and work with both triggers, this worked well enough.

The top frame was too weak after that glue battle to contest this, the ice trigger being in the same position.

After he finished working on that, he attached the barrel easily enough, but then looked at the mag. His pistol could use anything from a five to a twenty round mag with ease. But the problem was finding the right ammunition to fill it with.

He could go for some Serbian five-five six. He had heard that the ammunition type was hard-hitting and could easily rip through more concrete defenses with ease. But the ammunition was hard to get, even in an allied country of Serbia, plus he doubted he would be able to recover the ammunition after he used it.

The second type was the Roman Spect-70 Seven Eight. It was easy to procure and very cheap to boot. But the ammunition type was right out. The ammunition had barely any stopping power and only worked well if you used a rapid-fire gun. Plus from what he had heard during the war. The ammunition had a well-earned name for often leaving bruises when you shot targets.

Even with body-armor that should be easy to pierce!

The research was already underway for a new ammunition type to replace it, but after the treaty was signed. All countries had to suspend military research for around twenty years. So it looked like he wouldn't get better at home ammunition.

The final option was the German P-Ninety six eight one five. The type was easy to procure, not overly costly, and had some good stopping power and body armor-piercing. Though the only downside was how common it was used and the defenses that had been created to counteract such a bullet.

Better body armor had been one thing that had been given to the police to stop crime, and it lowered the bullet's worth by a good chunk. With taking several more shots to put a man with such armor down.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The last option was to use some illegal ammunition he could procure at the black market. Such as the Russian C-70 three and the Texan-13 four.

But that wasn't really an option, such bullets were hard to come by and probably expensive. Especially the Texan one, overseas gun-running was hard and dangerous work.

Nate decided that he would go for the German P-Ninety six eight one five. To make the ammo more lethal he could go for an enhanced version. He had heard rumors that they made 'sharp' versions as well, though how true those claims were was questionable.

But every lie had a grain of truth, so there must be something in that rumor.

Nate grabbed some more materials out of the red bin and fixed himself the classic Roman Spect-70, he added a sight mod and a mod that increased its effective range. Unlike that idiot that got him into this mess. Nate widely wondered if he should run a hit on him since he was joining a gang.

Though he shook that idea out quick, Gleen was probably under the protection of the police or the cult.

So it probably wouldn't be good to hit him till he got better firepower and numbers.

"You finished yet?" Mantis asked. Nate quickly turned around she was still dressed in her black shirt and jeans. Though he guessed it wouldn't make sense to change, the only thing that had really changed about her was her state. She looked like she had been bathed in ash and oil.

Her skin clothed in dark stains and the like.

A pair of welding goggles and a torch were on her side, attached by a steel clip to her jeans. Serving as a sort of makeshift belt.

"Yeah, I am. Made some guns while I was at it," Nate said as he held up his pair of weapons. Mantis cocked her eyebrows up in surprise. "Never thought you would be making weapons this early joining."

"Well, I figured since your involved this heavily in crime that having a basic untraceable firearm at my side was a good idea," Nate said as he waved around his Roman Spect-70.

"At least you adapted quickly, I got some seven-eight on me that I was going to throw away. But seeing your recent creations. I guess you could use it," Mantis said as she dumped around three and a half dozen thirty round mags at his feet.

"Some?" Nate asked.

"In this business, you either over-prepare or under-prepare. Most usually are over-prepared."

"Point taken."

As Nate picked up the magazines, he noticed something on Mantis's belt. "What's that?" Nate asked.

Mantis held up what looked like a walkie-talkie, but if that was yellow, had the antennae at the bottom and be made of seemingly magnetic stone. And had a tacky smiley face drawn on.

"It's our communicators, we use it to talk secretly. The police have no idea how to listen in on the channels we've set up."

"Fascinating, could I take a look?" Nate asked. As soon as his hand started to lift up, Mantis swung a pistol out as she put the device towards her chest. "Like hell, you have to earn one. And one single leak could jeopardize months of communication contacts and dozens of safehouse."

"So no."

"Big no," Mantis said.

They looked at each other for several minutes before a contact buzzed in, what was spoken was a series of garbled letters with little to no meaning, though Nate swore he heard something about an estimate and a gun firing.

Several minutes then went by as nothing happened before a sudden 'crash' was heard outside. Both Nate and Mantis rushed outside, Mantis taking some random exit while Nate ran out the front door. He held his Spect-70 ready as he looked around.

Nate saw a random teenager standing in a pile of glass with a gun in hand, probably the pistol that he had heard through the device. He saw mantis and several other men and women running out of the side of the warehouse, each decked in some sort of weapon and body armor.

All of them had some sort of gun pointed at the man, so Nate decided to waste no time and fire.

With a bzzrt, his gun spat to life and fired.

"Dear Red Cross,

I hope this letter finds you in good comfort, I'll keep this brief. A man by the name of Argo Von Perts and my wife Sevina Sickle Novis have had an affair for the past several years. My honorable brother has told me about those before he perished under mysterious circumstances. I suspect my unfaithful wife and her bastard of a new suitor had him eliminated. I want you to kill them both, make it painful. I want their toe-nails to pull out and stabbed at their exposed flesh as you sprinkle salt and acid on them. I want things that are done to them that were only done during the Great War, and I suspect your organization will be able to succeed on this request. I know how 'special' such an order would be so I have attached half of your payment to this letter. Around five-thousand silver, kill the boy who delivers this message. As a basic procedure. I sincerely hope you have a wonderful day.

From you warmest Benefactor,

Sir Mutchus Cross Novis"

-Found on the dead body of an orphan, name Cold Case #64