> "I'm not gunna jus' throw y' t' the wolves."

Really? 'Cause he seemed the type. But then, maybe sorting through hell was more important to Michael than testing a kid in a pedantic 'earn your way' sort of hazing. Jude wouldn't put it past the... What did one call a bunch of gun toting shooters? Bulletheads? Meatheads? Scary AF? Anyway, he wouldn't put it past them to do something. He would try to be extra aware.

The armory was everything he expected it to be and more. Michael had some sort of bio-lock installed? Or maybe it was the RFID. Jude filed his nosy questions aside for now. He'd cracked one of the Mansion's bio-locks with the right power, but that was more to piss off Sam and impress a girl than any real devious intent. Jude didn't anticipate needing into this room illegally, but the curious side of him wanted to know if he could.

And inventorying at intervals meant a gun could be missing for whatever length of time a quarter was, minus a bit. He filed that tidbit away as well before he realized what he was doing and shook his head at himself.

He was sort-of not even an actual employee yet and already wanting to test the boundaries.

"How do you count ammo? Like, bullet by bullet? And what's a build? You build guns from scratch?"

Loading magazines, again, sounded like repetitive grunt work. Which was perfectly fine for now. He wasn't kidding when he'd hinted at the bar being set real low for his expectations for this job.

"Is this the only door in here?" It sort of looked like a panic room. At least, what he'd seen in movies about panic rooms looked like this.

“How do you count ammo? Like, bullet by bullet? And what’s a build? You build guns from scratch?”

The Ranger assumed this is the part of the tour that would get the most questions. ”By the box. Most pistol ammo comes in boxes of fifty and rifle ammo comes in boxes of twenty. Shotgun shells are anywhere from five to twenty five per box.” The Ranger began, and moved to pick up some of the boxes as he spoke. ”A build isn’t from scratch, I don’t have the resources t’ work billet aluminum in t’ parts. We order in parts; receivers, barrels, an' all the rest. Then, we take an' machine an' fit the parts. ARs are pretty easy, they fit like Legos. A bolt gun gets a lot of work done t' blueprint an' accurize it.”

There were no ongoing builds for him to point out.

“Is this the only door in here?”

”Only door that leads in. There’s one hidden in back behind the rifles that leads t’ the class three storage.” Only Alpha had access through that door. Then heading off the question, ”Class three items are suppressors, machine guns, short-barrel rifles an’ shotguns, an’ destructive devices.”

The Ranger then pulled a few different guns off the racks and set them on the workbench. ”While we’re here let me give y’ a crash course in firearm anatomy.”

He was resigned to answer him. Excellent. Jude didn't want to waste the guy's time, but it was actually nice to know that the boss knew everything inside out and upside down. Not that Jude was quizzing him for that purpose. As it turned out, learning about a world he never thought he'd get a peek into was... interesting. Really, actually, legitimately interesting.

He considered giving Michael a strike for using "accurize," but as soon as he realized that it was probably jargon instead of the cowboy trying to make something accurate sound hip to the younger generation, he reserved his strike.

"I like Lego." But, really, who didn't? It looked like some of the more advanced sets that Lego had been making in recent years. Lego sets for adults where there was a challenge. He hadn't tried one. He actually didn't always have the patience for Lego, but that didn't mean that he didn't think they were awesome.

And holy cow! He didn't mind that he was telling Jude about super secret doors and "Class 3" stuff?

"Is Class 3 your designation or a legal one?"

So long as Michael had time, Jude was willing to sponge. "Will there be a quiz later?" He was joking, then realized that it might be an actual possibility.

"Is Class 3 your designation or a legal one?"

"A dealer gets Class 3 status. I jus' pay the Govt two-hundred dollars fer every item I get." And then lean on an ATF contact to get the form moved to the front of the line. The post-ban machine guns were another story altogether.

"Will there be a quiz later?"

"Sure. But we just call it work."

The Ranger grabbed a large T handle hex head screw driver and pulled the screws out of a Remington 700 Police. "This is a Remington 700. Most of the bolt guns y' see here will be some flavor of this model." The Ranger said as he disassembled the rifle. Once it was apart he pointed out the distinct parts, "Stock, Saferty, bolt, bolt handle attached t' the bolt, the receiver, when you pull back the bolt you can see into the chamber in the barrel, the muzzle, trigger, trigger guard, magazine floor plate or bottom metal, an' above that is the spring steel and metal follower of the internal magazine. This is the bolt stop release, you press that an' you can pull the bolt out. That is necessary for cleanin' the bore of the rifle." The Ranger left the rifle with the stock, barreled action with scope mounted on top and trigger assemble connected, and trigger guard all separated so Jude could look at them.

"Next, an' AR."

200 dollars per item. He forgot to ask how much bullets cost, but Jude was starting to get a picture about how lucrative being in security was.

"Bore is the inside part?" He got that mostly from context and the pointing, but if it was something that he was supposed to clean, Jude figured he should ask and be clear about it.

He fiddled around the the disconnected parts, twisting a lever into its connected spring and generally seeing how it all interacted.

"I thought guns were like... I dunno. Kinda mysterious? It's almost a letdown to see their guts."

Next up was an AR. That was the Lego one he figured would be a bit more fun. A bit less... ancient technology.

“Bore is the inside part?”

”Yeah, it is the inside part of the barrel the bullet travel through. Everything, an’ I mean everything that goes down the bore, unless it is a mop or nylon, goes one way. And the rod that pushes anything not a bullet through has a guide to get it in without touchin’ the chamber walls.”

“I thought guns were like… I dunno, Kinda mysterious? It’s almost a letdown to see their guts.”

”You hang around guns long enough y’ll understand there’s plenty of mystery. We jus’ got real good at building stuff that does what we want with no explanation.” How exactly does the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth work? It just does.

The Ranger held up a AR-15. ”This is an SR-15, or Stoner Rifle after Eugene Stoner who designed the AR-15. The trick with the AR is to maintain as much precision as y’ can while allowing a high rate of fire. It is no bolt gun in terms of how precise it can be or how big a punch it can have, but it can run fast with minimal loss to precision.”

Popping two pins, the Ranger separated the upper and lower receivers of the rifle. The Takedown and pivot pins captured by a detent so they stayed attached to the lower receiver. ”ARs are composed of an upper and a lower half.” He held up the lower. ”The lower has the stock, the buffer which is spring loaded to return the weapon to battery, the fire control system which includes the trigger, the selector, grip, magwell, and mag catch.”

Setting down the lower the ranger picked up the upper. He then pulled on the charging handle and pulled it and the bolt carrier group out. ”This is the upper receiver. The bolt carrier travels through it and the barrel is connected on one end. The bolt carrier holds the bolt and the firing pin. When the gun fires it gets pushed back into the buffer tube on the lower by gas before the buffer pushes it back into lockup against the locking lugs of the barrel.” The Ranger pushed on the buffer and then pointed to the lugs inside the chamber through the ejection port. Without additional light it would be hard to see more than a general idea of what was going on.

”The dust cover can be closed but will open with movement of the bolt carrier. No one uses these anymore, this ain’t Vietnam. The Barrel slides into the receiver and is often held by a Delta ring. This is a free-float system so instead there is a collar there which the free float handguard mounts to.” Realizing this would need explanation, the Ranger diverted the tracks for a moment.

”A rifle is considered free-floated when nothing touches the barrel except the receiver. This can have a huge impact precision. On an AR it is never truly free-floated.” Bringing his explanation back around, ”If you look through the hand guard you’ll see a skinny tube running most of the way down the barrel until it hooks into a little collar around the barrel. That’s the gas tube and gas block. When the bullet passes the hole in the barrel the block is on it lets gas into the system, on this weapon it is called direct impingement or DI. There are also piston systems. As long as the bullet is past the hole but in the barrel it creates pressure down the tube, this is called the dwell time. When the bullet exits the barrel the pressure lets off and the bcg goes forward again and loads the next round. Having a different length combination of barrel and gas tube length alters the dwell time an’ affects the cadence of the gun. And this bit on the end here is the flash hider. They don’t do much, but they help some and ain’t as loud as muzzle break.”

He set the upper down to let Jude get his hands on it.

It was huge. Why was it so huge? The whole time Michael explained, Jude was stuck on just how freaking giant it was.

"The, uh, it—" All his questions tried to pop out at once. He started with the obvious. Or, what he hoped was obvious and not just plain wrong. "So wait. It's got hydraulics? The spring buffer part?" He fiddled with the pieces, which all felt solid and sturdy. He hadn't touched a lot a lot of things that were built like that, honestly.

"And this is the Lego one?" It did just sorta snap apart, he supposed.

And he appreciated being able to play with the parts. "What parts need cleaning? Everything that is supposed to move gets something, right?"

He didn't exactly get how it worked, but his analytical brain was buzzing. It was like a puzzle.

"Is there compressed gas hiding in the stock?" He mentioned gas. Jude fiddled some more.

"So wait. It's got hydraulics? The spring buffer part?

"Nope. Just a spring." The Ranger took a small steel punch and used it to hold down the buffer retainer. The buffer no longer bound, slipped out of the buffer tube. He pulled it and the spring out.

"And this is the Lego one?

"Correct. I can snap parts on an' off this." The Ranger pointed to a rack of uppers that had no lowers. "I can take this lower receiver, connect any of those uppers, an' in the few seconds that takes go from the 5.56 that this shoots to any number of other calibers. .300 Blackout, 6.5 Grendel, 7.62 by 39 or what the AK47 shoots, .22 Long Rifle, .22 Magnum, 5.7 by 28 like the P90 shoots, or even a .50 Beowulf. If it fits up the magwell you can run it. If it doesn't there is a bolt action upper for it. Bohica Arms even makes a .50 BMG bolt action upper for the thing. Beyond that it I can change the stock on the fly, I can change the trigger to any number of other styles, I can change the muzzle device, I can mount a nearly infinite number of accessories to the handguard."

"What parts need cleaning? Everything that is supposed to move gets something, right?"

"The parts y' worry about are where carbon builds up an' the barrel. Y'll clean the barrel similar to a bolt gun. Beyond that y'll use a chamber brush in the chamber. Easiest thing to do is attach it to an electric drill." The Ranger picked up the bolt carrier group and set to work pulling it apart. Use the punch he previously used to pull out the retaining pin, then slide the firing pin out the back, then he could remove the cam pin, and finally the bolt. He then picked up a CRT-15. "This is a CRRT-15. It's how you clean these parts. The fat end goes in where the bolt came out of the carrier and it cleans inside there. The small end goes into the back of the bolt and the arm scrapes the curved parts around the gas rings. The rest you can use a brush on. When you put it back together make sure the gas rings aren't aligned. There's a little gap on them, just spin 'em 'round so they don't line up then reassemble it." The Ranger stuck the Bolt carrier group back together to show Jude. "Most work will be done to the upper, the lower will get fouled over time but it is nothin' compared to the upper. All the carbon forms near the key since that's where the hot gas hits and cools off."


"Is there compressed gas hiding in the stock?"

This question gave the Ranger pause, he wasn't sure why Jude would ask... Oh. "No compressed gas. The gas f'r the system comes from the burin' of the gunpowder. The only thing a modern rifle needs outside air for is t' cool down."

While the Ranger let the kid handle the parts he pulled out a mat with the schematic of a P226 on it. He set it down on the bench. They helped people keep parts contained in a small area. "Y'd seemed interested in the SIG. Here's what all the parts inside look like."

Jude was not going to retain half of that, but the physical demonstration helped. And it also helped that the CRT was literally labeled with its name pressed into the side.

"This is another 'don't throw me to the wolves' part, I hope."

He smoothed his hands over the schematic. The SIG was obviously not the large rifle-type thing that Michael'd managed to break into pieces for him. The way all the springs and levers fit and worked was really quite brilliant. It was a shame that so much engineering had gone into making people hurt with more efficiency.

And he could feel the question burning at the back of his throat. He shouldn't ask --It was kind of obvious at this point-- but he was going to anyway.

"You guys kill people?"

He bounced the spring from the AR stock between his hands which turned out to have more resistance than he'd expected.

"This is another 'don't throw me to the wolves' part, I hope."

”Yeah, it’s another one of those.” The Ranger laughed. ”This bein’ done right could make a life or death difference. Y’ll get walked through it.” The kid was bright enough, this quick primer plus walking him through once or twice ought to be enough. Nothing was difficult or super complicated just precise and requiring elbow a little grease.

As Jude looked over the schematic for the P226 the Ranger said, ”Y’ likely won’ ever break one down all the way. The only reason would be t’ replace hammer.” then shifting to talking about the design, ”most of that is there to make the decocker work. A nifty SIG invention from the 1920’s. It decocks the hammer safely so the weapon can be carried in double action but after firing once operate in single action.”

Then the kid asked a doozy of a question.

"You guys kill people?"

At first the Ranger didn’t know how to answer. The answer was yes, but if left there sounds terrible. ”When we have to.” He began. ”Security is about protectin’ someone or somethin’. From time t’ time our hands’re forced.”

This was true for all the day to day operations of Blackforest Tactical. The Ranger was not about to disclose the other side of their operations to Jude. Maybe one day if he stayed around and showed himself able to handle knowing what Alpha did.

”We prepare f’r the worst but pray f’r the best. We don’ want t’ have to kill someone, but we do what has t’ be done.”

If Michael could say decocker with a straight face, Jude could at least try to maintain some dignity. For goodness sakes, he wasn't a child.

But... it was still pretty unexpected and came with a host of mental images that he had to cough through.

He had to ask the hard question in order to get on with the serious business. But he also wanted to know the measure of the people he'd be working for without straight up asking if they were all bad dudes. Afterall, what was the difference in assembling a bomb versus using one?

Jude liked that he didn't have a canned answer. He liked that he stopped to think in a way that didn't feel like an act. And he could live with what he got.

He nodded once to indicate his satisfaction.

"I'll clean guns for that." But he wouldn't have to like them.

The kid started coughing after ‘decocker’ the Ranger suspected it was to cover a laugh. He could understand how that might sound funny to someone not use to hearing about guns and their mechanics.

It seemed the Ranger’s answer had been satisfactory. Jude stated, "I'll clean guns for that."

The Ranger nodded to the kid.

This was good. If the kid had decided that he couldn’t clean the guns the Ranger would have to consider if having the kid just to do paperwork was worth it. It likely was. No one else wanted to hang out in paper hell. Only hiring one kid to handle the tedium of the business at this point was what he wanted.

”Any other questions or anythin’ you’d like t’ see before we continue the tour?”

There wasn’t much left to the tour. Most would be like the offices, just point it out as they passed. The only truly notable places left were the shoot house and the garage.

Did he have questions? “Yeeeeah, I think I could spend a whole week asking questions, but at this point I'm not going to retain a whole lot.” He shrugged.

“There's a whole lot here that I just don't know anything about. Or. I mean, no previous experience.” And that applied to more than just the guns. Still…

“I'd like to see the rest of the space. Meet people so they know my face and don't give me hell before coffee. That kind of stuff.”

Oh that actually did bring an important question to mind. “You guys do coffee anywhere?” If he could get his coffee here, that'd be one less expense at home, over he got one.

The kid stated that while he did have questions he’d like to see the rest of the place. The Ranger nodded, it was a lot of information to take in at once. ”We’ll get y’ up t’ speed in no time. It’s less complicated than it seems once y’ get workin’ on ‘em.”

The Ranger started throwing the rifles back together. ”There should be a couple of the guys here. There’s normally not many of us in house at once. I think most of Alpha is here though in the shoot house.” The rifles assembled he took them back to where they lived. ”And yeah, we do coffee here. I’ll show you where it is next.”

The guns put away he headed back to the door. Like when he entered, the Ranger had to enter a number on a keypad to get out. He waited for Jude to leave before shutting the door.

The break room wasn’t far, just a couple rooms over. It was one of the few rooms that didn’t require anything to get through the door. Just a normal door and doorknob. Inside was the standard break room fair. Counters, tables, chairs, microwave, refrigerator, and a fancy coffee machine with an army of bottles and containers of coffee additives next to it.

A tall man, somewhere around 6’7” with shoulders so broad it disguised his height until you got close, sat in the room. He greeted the Ranger,

“Hey Michael… Who’s the kid?”

”This is Jude. He’s the new guy that’ll be workin’ in paper hell and the armory.” He turned to Jude, ”This is Kyle Gates, one of the two Bravo team leads.”

Kyle stood up, and held his hand out to Jude.

 “Good to meet you, Jude..”

His efficiency in reassembling what he'd torn down was weirdly casual and familiar. Again, he knew his stuff. His every move screamed that it was so. Jude made a mental note to keep Michael on his good side. Jude was betting he wouldn't like to be on his bad one.

They passed a blessedly normal door. Jude was starting to think that beyond the front ones, there might not be many. What was behind the door was decidedly abnormal, even by Mansion standards.

He was introduced and the copycat shook Kyle's hand. Mutant. He would have guessed it even if his power hadn't given the other guy a lazy lick of attention.

"Jude Coilin." He confirmed. It was one thing to be introduced. Quite another to introduce himself. He tried to sound worthy of the respect he desired, but couldn't stay too serious for too long. "You must've eaten every single vegetable when you were growing up."

It took the briefest hesitation while Kyle processed the joke before the man's grin widened and he slapped a knee with a snort of a laugh.

"Not bad, but I've heard that one before." He pointed at Jude and the teen realized that Kyle's hands might be big enough to go all the way around his rib cage.

"Now that you're grown you eat 5 dozen eggs?"

"A classic," he conceded as he crouched back down into his human-sized chair, "but I've heard it."

Jude puzzled as he moved to follow Michael to whatever destination was next, but stopped before they moved out of the room for one last attempt.

"Come with me," he tried a terrible Arnold accent, "if you want to lift."