Replaceable Parts: Chapter 4

This chapter was commissioned by Everdusk

Chapter 4: Opens Minds

My metal arm bucked with each shot.

The gun was part of my prosthetic, and so it lacked a trigger. Instead, I gave a mental ‘pull’, which added its own complications to the process that I still had to work through.

I’d rarely gone to shooting ranges before I’d been shot in the head. Bees taught me most of what I needed to know about guns, and my Passenger corrected all the little flaws in my stance without me realizing. Now I was left with bad habits I knew nothing about in a world where using a revolver to juggle was a common pastime.

At the other end of the shooting range, team RWBY took turns blasting unique dust rounds at a specially reinforced target dummy. Last I checked, Weiss Schnee had buried the thing in a wave of ice before Yang blasted it apart with an overcharged fire-dust round, to her sister’s cheers.

The steam licked at my ankles as I pulled in my own target to look at my pitiful shot groupings.

‘Better than when I started’ was the highest praise I could give myself. No wonder it’d taken me so many shots to damage that Paladin’s exposed servo-motors. With a shrug, I reset the holographic interface and sent the target back down the range.

“I’m surprised they let you into the military with shots like that,” someone said.

I glanced over my shoulder. The black-haired girl, Blake, leaned against the nearest corner. She met my gaze with a detached calm, golden eyes half lidded.

I turned back to my target. “Catty much?” I raised my arm, ignoring her huff. If she didn’t want flak about her attitude, she could leave it at home.

“I was going to offer some advice,” she said.

“By all means.” I steadied my arm, lining up the iron sights with the target. “As you so kindly pointed out, I could use the help.”

She huffed again, coming up beside me. The tiny flecks of darkness I’d hidden in the tread of her boots let me know her exact position until she drifted back into my sight.

“Your arm’s too low.” Blake nudged my elbow. “Is it the same caliber you’re used to?”

I held back a laugh at that. Remnant didn’t have 9mm. Or any ammunition propelled by something as mundane as a chemical explosion caused by black powder and charcoal instead of the crystalized power of the elements. “No. The recoil has taken some getting used to.”

She hummed. “You’re overcompensating for the recoil, and the barrel is probably lower than you’re expecting if you’re used to a normal pistol.”

I adjusted, taking a moment to internalize that and adjust my stance. “This height is good?”

Blake nodded.

I turned back to the target, focusing on my breathing.

“You’re slipping down again,” Blake said.

“Damn.” Now that she’d said it, I was able to notice. Instead of just resetting, I took a step back, shaking out my prosthetic. With a flex of thought, the barrel folded away, back into metal fingers. I massaged them with my good hand, working out the psychosomatic stiffness.

I hadn’t expected Blake to be the member of team RWBY to reach out. This morning, Penny had told me she was free to meet her good friend Ruby again, and naturally I’d been dragged along. The other three members of the team were noticeably more standoffish than their leader, but had warmed up quickly enough at Beacon’s indoor shooting range. I was planning on sitting nearby and working on my accuracy until Penny was recalled, but I appreciated the chance to scope out some of my “little sister’s” new friends.

Even if this one looked at me like I was a cop.

I finished out my second mag with noticeably increased accuracy. With a flex of my ‘wrist’, I ejected the spent magazine and inserted another into the prosthesis.

“Thanks for the help,” I said.

“Mmm.” Blake leaned against the wall of my shooting lane. I could still see hints of suspicion behind her eyes.

My arm shifted, turning back into four fingers and a thumb. “Something wrong?”

“You’re not Penny’s actual sister,” she said.

I laugh softly. “I’m adopted.”

She hums again. “And her adopted older sister just happened be an Atlas government agent who can’t shoot.”

I turned to face her. “I was picked specifically. I just happened to be adopted by Penny’s dad.”

She continued to stare.

I could understand suspicion. Atlas had a reputation in this world as instigators in a great war against emotional expression. Now, here my new employers were in Vale with a fresh coat of paint and a bunch of shiny new chrome. Some cultural practices didn’t buff out so easily.

I was part of a giant, kingdom-spanning conspiracy, but it involved her own headmaster, so I deserved at least some benefit of the doubt.

Yang popped her head around the corner with a grin. “Aww, the broody ones are bonding!”

Blake and I shot her matching glares, but that only made her grin wider. “Told you that you’d make friends during the Vytal Festival.”

“We’re not friends,” Blake replied.

“I’m hurt,” I said.

“See?” Yang glanced over her shoulder. “They even speak the same language.”

“I believe they are both speaking Common,” Penny replied. “Which you are also speaking!”

“Yeah, Yang!” Ruby leaned against Penny, which didn’t even budge the taller girl. “Everyone knows that Atlas speaks Common, too.”

Yang rolled her eyes. “Nobody appreciates me.”

“I appreciate you!”

I glanced over as two other combat students walked into the shooting range, synching their scrolls to the range tracker before wandering over towards our group. The first guy hi-fived Yang with a matching grin. His hair was a shade or two darker than hers, matching tanned skin. And you could see a lot of his skin, considering his outfit was just a pair of jeans and an open button down.

“Oh, Hey, Sun!” Ruby waved. “Have you met Penny?”

“I do not believe we have conversed,” Penny replied.

Sun’s teammate came over more slowly, as if he just so happened to be headed in our direction. Sea-blue hair and in a tight maroon sweater, the other kid was a studied contrast to his teammate. I eyes flicked over to Weiss and Blake. The latter caught me looking and met my eyes once again.

“What are we appreciating here?” the blue-haired guy said. “Not that you don’t have a lot of qualities I would love to appreciate.”

Yang preened, even as she blew him off with a disinterested, “Smooth, Neptune.”

“What can I say, I’m a smooth guy.”

A quick flick of my eyes showed that Specialist Schnee’s younger sister certainly thought Neptune was smooth. I reserved that fact for later. Winter Schnee was an unimpeachable member of the Atlas military, but she was willing to trade chocolate rations for information on her sister.

“Oooh, sweet!” Sun jumped into a lazy front flip over Yang’s head, landing at the foot of the specialized shooting range. “We doing a trick shot competition? I always win those back at Haven.”

“Who wins what at Haven?” Neptune asked. “Took you down last time, and I’ll do it again.”

Yang grinned. “Can anyone get in on this?”

“Sure!” Sun grinned at Blake, whose unflappable demeanor slipped for the first time all day. “Ain’t a competition unless I take down the best of you.”

“Oh, it is on!” Yang punched her fists together. “C’mon Weiss, let’s show the boys what’s up.”

“I think that’s hardly so refined—”

Neptune smiled at her. “It’s okay, Snow Angel. I won’t think less of you.”

Suddenly, Weiss cared much less about what was so refined. Teenagers.

“Sister Taylor!” Penny raised a hand. “I would also like to participate in this competition!”

My irritation evaporated into a fond smile. “You don’t need my permission to have fun, Penny. Go ahead.”

“Sensationsal!”

“Just don’t use—“ I stared.

Sun cut me off with a whoop. “All right! Let’s get this party started!” Before I could continue, he whipped two red and gold nunchaku off his belt, flipping one into the air and shooting it twice. The first shot reversed the spin, the second—somehow—hit the trigger, sending a dust round right into the bullseye at the other end of the range.

Sun snagged his gunchuck out of the air with a flourish. “How’s that from the judges?”

I sighed; juggling with revolvers. I just couldn’t keep up.

“Wait.” Yang tilted her head. “Who’re the judges?”

As one, the group turned to look at me and Blake. I tried to plead out by virtue of being a worse shot than all of them, but Ruby gave me the most heartwarming speech I’d ever received, and even though it didn’t really do much for me, I just couldn’t find it in myself to say no to my little Sister’s best friend and her silver puppydog eyes.

“She learned that from Zwei,” Yang had told me. “Don’t worry, Dad can’t say no either.”

“You seem really convinced we’re friends, all of a sudden,” I’d replied.

“Big sisters gotta stick together.” Yang had grinned and waggled her eyes at our respective redheaded stepsisters chatting about shot angles and dust utilization. “Especially when they’re, y’know…”

Awkward conversations aside, that was how I got roped into quite figuratively shot calling. Mostly, though, the kids forgot about the two of us except to groan about the numbers as they cycled through a serious of increasingly ridiculous shots.

I didn’t need to know that Ruby could fire Cresent Rose in a handstand using one foot, but now I did.

I lifted a scorecard made of my semblance over my head. “Eight point five.”

Blake sighed. “Eight.”

Ruby crowed happily, dashing back over to Penny in a flurry of petals that sent her combat boots tumbling across the ground “Did’ya see that?”

“Indubitably!” Penny nodded. “I did not know your feet were so dexterous.”

I shared a commiserating look with Blake as the two of them went off on another tangent.

“Seems like you have fun down here,” I murmured.

Blake turned to look at me as Neptune lined up his next shot. “Not regimented enough for you?”

I chuckled at that. It was funny how she had me pegged as Atlas military when I could barely get through a conversation with General Ironwood without the man wanted to strangle me. “I’m only really a fan of schedules when I write them. Seven.”

Neptune groaned. “C’mon, coach!” His eyes tracked to Blake, who did a remarkable job of pretending she’d seen his shot.

“Seven.”

Neptune slumped dramatically, allowing Sun to pat him on the back. Really, the spear kickflip was impressive, just as impressive as Ruby.

“Are…you the one writing Penny’s schedule?”

I sighed. “Why don’t you ask the questions you actually want to ask?”

Blake straightened, eyes narrowing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

We paused for a moment to let Yang dash back into the room with another set of shells. “I’m gonna knock your socks off, Blakey!”

The resulting fireworks display may have singed my eyebrows off. I wasn’t brave enough to check. I held up 8.5 again as the smoke started to clear.

Blake looked at me challengingly. “Nine,” she said. I just shrugged.

“Hell yeah!” Yang fist pumped. “I’m on fire!”

“Must you?” came Weiss’s murmured reply.

“You still don’t have me pegged, and it’s bothering you,” I said to Blake. “I don’t fit in your neat little box of Atlas types, and that makes you suspicious.”

“I don’t put people in boxes,” she replied.

I raised an eyebrow. “We all do it. Categorizing people is an instinct that we have to work past.” I spread my arms. “Do you want to work past it, or do you want to eye me suspiciously when you think I’m not looking?”

Penny stepped up to the firing lane.

“The only thing I find suspicious is how an Atlas agent was there to take down a rogue Atlas paladin,” she replied.

“So?” I shrugged. “You had a stern talking to and suddenly you don’t want to find answers to your questions?”

“I’ll find answers.” Blake crossed her arms. “With or without your help.”

I sighed. In this life and the last, there were always people who refused to listen. I wanted to grab the girl by the shoulders and shake the suspicion out of her, but that never worked in any life either. People were beings of emotion, and so you had to reach them through emotions. Or at least, that’s what Headmaster Ozpin kept saying. I wasn’t sure I believed him yet, but I certainly liked his philosophy better than General Ironwood’s.

“Look,” I said.

“Penny PULSAAAAAAAAR!”

Both Blake and I jerked as a wave of green light washed over us. Down the shooting range, Penny had unleased her particle beam cannon, reflecting it off sheets of ice dust and all the debris from the competition until it hit the target dummy in an explosion of light and sound.

I raised my metal arm to shield my eyes, lest I lose my eyelashes as well. When the light faded, I cleared the spots from my eyes with a pulse of aura.

Molten slag.

Penny had not only cut through the reinforced target, but she’d melted partway through the backstop as well. Along the length of the specialty firing lane, patches of glowing metal hissed and burbled from where she’d bounced the beam. I placed my hand against my forehead, but the dust-powered metal wasn’t even cool. The gun range fell completely silent as every single student turned to look at the destruction she had wrought.

“Damn,” Yang said. “I can still see the afterimages when I close my eyes.”

“Yaaang! That’s exactly why dad told you not to look directly at the sun!”

“Why not, Rubes? It’s hot, I’m hot. It’s a match made in heaven.”

“Some days,” said Weiss, “I wish I’d never met any of you.”

I turned to look at Blake, eyebrow raised once again. These are the people you trust, I thought, and somehow that made me the suspicious one. She held her expression steady, but even she couldn’t disguise her embarrassed blush.

“Well, Sister Taylor.” Penny turned and fell into a perfect salute. “What is my final score?”

The door to the firing range hissed open before I could reply. Glynda Goodwitch stalked through, half-cape billowing behind her like the shroud of death. She glowered impressively at our group, arms folded, finger tapping at the handle of her crop.

“Well, children?” she asked. “I’m waiting.”

“I think you successfully ended the competition, Penny,” I said.

“Did I?”

Ruby leaned over. “That means you win!”

~~*

“How’d you come up with your attack name?” Ruby asked. “The Penny Pulsar is so cool! I spent ages coming up with our team attack names and Wiess still says they suck!”

I paused, taking a deep breath. In front of me, Penny and Ruby were walking down the streets of Vale. Goodwitch had kicked us out of the firing range and suggested I find something for Penny to do that did not involve property damage. With the rest of team RWBY grounded, and Sun and Neptune getting their very own meeting with Headmaster Ozpin to discuss their behavior, I’d decided it was high time to investigate the city before Goodwitch found some way to punish me specifically.

“I think Checkmate and Freezerburn are wonderful names!” Penny replied. “They are very colorful, and color is important.”

“Awww, y’know.” Ruby kicked one foot back and forth on the ground. “They’re nothing much.”

Penny turned and snagged Ruby’s hands. “I do not think they are nothing,” she said. “I think you are very clever, and I decided to name my attack after you told me about your team names yesterday.”

I smiled.

“Abwaaa…” Ruby’s eyes went unfocused for a second, before she vanished in a flurry of rose petals and reappeared next to the nearest street vender. “Wow, these pins sure are cool!”

The man startled, before recovering quickly. “Thank you! They’re strong enough for a huntress, as well.”

“Are they really?” Penny happily jogged back over to her friend. She didn’t notice anything odd about Ruby’s behavior, of course, or the glowing blush on her cheeks.

“Made ‘em from dust-forged steel.” The man puffed up. “Aura conductive, rated for high impacts. Why, these little charms could even block a bullet!”

Penny frowned slightly. “I would not want a bullet to damage such wonderful craftsmanship. But it is good to know they are as sturdy as they are colorful.

“Bulletproof? Up to what caliber? Oh, is the color painted or enameled?” Ruby wiggled in her boots. I was beginning to think the girl liked guns. “Ahhhhh that one’s a little scythe! It’s so cute!”

“Do you really like it, friend Ruby?” Penny asked.

For his part, the vendor just chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

“I love it.” Ruby sighed regretfully. “I should come back here with my whole team, though. Sucks that they’re grounded.”

“I will happily return with your entire team once my team arrives in Vale,” Penny said.

“Hey why wait?” The man asked. “If your team is stuck on Campus, why not get them something to cheer them up.”

Ruby wavered, hands pressed against her chest, but then she sighed. “I really need to save money for the Vytal festival…”

“That’s okay, friend Ruby.” Penny patted her on the shoulder. Ruby nodded, apologizing to the man again before continuing down the street. Then Penny turned back to me, eyes wide.

I chuckled, giving her a shooing motion. Penny smiled—she could already read me so well—before dashing off to catch up with Ruby once again.

“How much for the scythe,” I asked. “And…this one.” I picked up a glowing gear with intricately detailed spikes.

“Ten lien each,” the man said. “You girls from Atlas?”

I smiled, pulling out my lien card. “We are. Ruby’s a Beacon student, showing us around.”

“Love the new faces!” He grinned. It brought out the laugh lines in his face. “I’ll throw in a third pin for half prince, since you’re new in town.”

“Ha.” I looked at the table once again, about to brush him off, but then a gold beetle caught my eye, and I couldn’t help myself.

“Twenty-five lien,” I said.

He packaged the pins up with clean brown paper, making sure to wrap the scythe separately with a wink. “Pleasure doing business with you.” I took the little wrapped parcels with a smile and sauntered after my charges. Predictably, Ruby had gone no further than the nearest weapon shop before getting distracted again. Now they were talking about Penny’s particle cannon with glee as Ruby pointed at different receivers and shiftgears in the window so fast her arm started to blur. I sidled in next to Penny and pressed the first package into her waiting palm.

Her eyes lit up like searchlights.