Back to the lab [training]

Flipping the light switch off, Vaas closed the door behind him, leaving the room shrouded in darkness once more. His friend within wouldn’t mind. He wasn’t exactly in a state of mind to complain, won’t be for quite a few hours. ”Now that that’s done,” Vaas checks his watch, noting that he still has a few hours, ”humph. I thought it’d take longer. No wonder it wasn’t as fun this time.” The man had one more task on his to-do list before being able to relax and spend the rest of the day as he pleased. A relatively simple task, too. He had to make his weapon of choice, a bow with matching arrows. Vaas bad been using bows as his primary weapon for a long time now. He didn’t really like guns, they were too quick. Too easy. Bows weren’t much more difficult, but there was more finesse to them, they were more complicated than simply inserting a clip and squeezing a trigger. Besides, with his electro-magnetic abilities, waving a gun in Vaas’ face was practically a death sentence. He’d easily magnetize it, ripping the gun from your palms before you even managed to draw it. And he was skilled with the bow well enough to plant arrows wherever he wished. But the best thing about bows; their silence. A gunshot could be heard a long ways off, but an arrow? The moment you hear it, you’re already dead.

He entered the room adjacent to the one he’d just been in. This room looked identical to the last, but it was furnished much differently. Vaas had converted this spare room into a tech lab of sorts. This is where he’d make his various gadgets, the room where the magic happened. Well, maybe magic was exaggerating a bit. Anyways, he went over to a nearby metal drawer, opening it to bring out a large blue sheet of paper. He unrolled the paper on an adjacent table, the paper covering a good portion of the surface, but still leaving enough room for the inventor to work. He looked over the blueprints, taking in each and every little detail, imprinting it all in his head. He didn’t usually need the blueprints, but Vaas was forgetful at times. And after making a gadget once, unless it was broken or he made multiples, he tended to forget a few details every now and then. So he’d taken to drawing up blueprints for any gadgets he felt he might have to make more than once. The bow being his primary weapon, he’d surely try to keep it as free from harm as possible, but Vaas was no fool. Unexpected circumstances popped up all the time on a mission, and he’d been forced to lose a bow more than once, and it never became less frustrating. But not this time. This bow would be completely metallic. He’d be able to shoot it with his powers if he so wished. And it’d be durable, no more breaking from a single gunshot or any of that.

Having all the details crisply memorized, Vaas got to work. He picked out the different pieces of metal, bending them into shape with a combination of his magnetic abilities and a metal bending machine he’d invented for exactly this kind of job. This part, the actual making of the bow’s pieces, was really the hardest part of the entire job. Vaas had designed his bow to be able to change its shape, so he could easily fold it into itself and hide it within the pockets of his over coat. Not only that, but he’d made it so the bow could be extended an extra six inches on each end, adding a foot of overall length, and allowing him to shoot his arrows even further, not to mention making them that much deadlier. In its regular state, the bow would shoot an arrow capable of piercing your body easily. In the extended state, that same exact arrow would go completely through you, and exit out the other way, its speed only slightly lessened. It was truly a great design that Vaas had made. Of course, it could still be advanced even further, but for now, this simple, yet powerful bow would suffice. He’d wait for future inspiration before further improving the weapon, not wanting to make any unnecessary changes to it.

The inventor finished the metal shaping process soon enough, taking only roughly an hour to make all the little bits and pieces that would come into place. Then came the easy part, putting everything together. Vaas worked easily and fluidly, connecting the little bits and bobs first, the guts of the bow, before attaching the bigger parts, the metal plates that covered the insides and protected them. Though the bow wasn’t exactly complex in its current state, Vaas had no doubt he’d come back to it later, making additions and alterations as he saw fit. As such, he designed the weapon to be heavily modular, so he could add and remove bits and pieces as he saw fit. Maybe one day he’d be on a mission and he found an important electrical component that could be weaponized? Boom, slap it onto the bow, and it’d be good to go. Better to design the bow in such a way now and be prepared, than to stumble upon the situation later and be unable to handle it. In his line of work, Vaas wouldn’t be able to afford such a crucial mistake.

Putting the pieces together took Vaas even less time than actually making the damn thing, but he’d done it. The finished ‘Arc Bow’ set before him, complete and ready to deliver souls to hades at Vaas’ whim. He’d also made a number of arrows, close to a hundred, but that was a separate matter. Those arrows he’d made a while ago, in preparation for the bow. Now it was time for the fun part, testing the weapon out. He picked up the bow and a handful of arrows, and walked a few steps over to where he’d set up a few targets. The targets were a few yards down, not an ideal distance for Vaas’ expert abilities, but he couldn’t really afford a Batcave yet. He’d have to take on a few more high-paying jobs first, but that was certainly one of the first things on his mind. Notching the arrow, Vaas held it in place for a moment, getting a feel for the bow; how it bent, creaked, the feel of the tension on the metal wire he’d used as the bowstring. Everything felt good, exactly as he’d imagined. He let the arrow fly. It soared through the air, and hit the target dead on. Vaas grinned, but only a tiny one. Of course it hit. He was the one who shot it, after all. He decided to make it a little harder, trying to pull off trick shots and still hit the target. He’d jump and shoot, spin and shoot, drop down from above and shoot, and any other insane movement he could picture happening while in a mission.

By the end of his test, the target he’d set up was littered with arrows, all of them shot at the exact same point. The arrows formed a sort of bouquet arrangement, and Vaas couldn’t help but chuckle at his own prowess. Satisfied with the bows performance, he mounted the weapon on his wall, rolled up and put away the blueprints, and put all the arrows back in their place. Vaas exited the room with a smile. He’d done it again. Now all he had to do was take the thing on a real mission, see how it performed under a real situation. He had high hopes for it, he’d invented it after all. Exiting the warehouse, Vaas leaned against the outer wall, a few feet away from the door he’d just exited. He reached in his pocket, pulling out a box of New Ports, taking one out and lighting it with the heat from a green spark of lightning. Vaas takes a drag, relaxing as he exhales the smoke. Aryonna better contact him soon. He was itching to put the bow through its paces.

[1,371/600]