Chapter 117 - 118: Firearm Modification

Chapter 117: Chapter 118: Firearm Modification

Chapter 118: Firearm Modification

Axel Vance’s eye twitched as he stared at the enormous iron hammer Pugsley Addams had dragged across the room. The thing was nearly as tall as the boy himself, and Axel could not imagine how something that crude was supposed to help with delicate supernatural work. He glanced toward Gomez and Morticia for reassurance, only to find both of them watching with delighted interest.

"Pugsley, mind the table," Morticia reminded him gently. "It would be a shame to damage the furniture." Axel went silent after that, finally accepting that Addams family methods followed rules no normal person could possibly understand.

Pugsley lifted the heavy hammer with a mischievous smile and murmured something under his breath. Then, before Axel could ask what he was doing, the boy brought it down against the Blood Jade resting beside the antique shotgun. A metallic crash rang through the living room.

The Blood Jade did not break.

Instead, the dark-red material softened like molten glass and flowed unnaturally into the antique firearm. The existing rose-and-thorn engravings seemed to come alive around it, drawing the supernatural material deeper until the jade completely merged with the weapon. When the strange transformation ended, a blood-red pattern had appeared near the grip, surrounding the old silver skull ornament.

Pugsley dropped the hammer and dusted off his hands. "Done." He looked so pleased with himself that Axel could only stare for a moment before stepping closer.

Axel picked up the transformed shotgun, and the difference was immediate. The weapon no longer felt like an ordinary antique; something inside it seemed to pulse with restrained anger, resentment, and death. The sensation reminded him less of holding a machine and more of gripping the remains of something that had learned how to hate.

He cautiously fed a trace of Psionic Power into the weapon. A low supernatural vibration passed through his arm, and a resonance formed between him, the Blood Jade, and the old gun almost instantly. The dark-gold engravings lit with a faint red glow while thin supernatural patterns spread across the metal like veins.

Axel could feel the difference clearly.

The energy he poured into the weapon came back stronger and cleaner, as though the Blood Jade were guiding and amplifying the flow rather than merely storing it. By his estimate, the gain was significant enough to make the old shotgun far more valuable than it had been even before the enchantment.

Pugsley stared at the glowing patterns with wide eyes. "Uncle Axel, that looks incredible." Wednesday, standing nearby with her usual unreadable expression, gave a small approving nod.

Axel looked toward Gomez and said seriously, "This gift is worth far more than I expected. I’m going to remember what you did for me." Gomez immediately waved the concern away and slipped an arm around Morticia’s waist.

"My friend, that sounds terribly formal," Gomez said cheerfully. "Come visit us more often and we’ll call it even." He glanced toward the enchanted antique and added, "Besides, a beautiful old toy deserves to end up with someone who knows how to appreciate it."

Axel could not argue with that logic, especially in this house. He thanked them again, politely declined Morticia’s invitation to stay for dinner, and returned to the old mansion with the newly enchanted shotgun. By the time he reached home, his curiosity had already shifted toward what else the weapon might be capable of.

He headed straight for the basement.

Dr. Seth Brundle was hunched over the telepod equipment, surrounded by instruments and unfinished notes. His hair was disheveled, his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked as though sleep had become a theoretical concept rather than something he practiced. Axel placed the antique shotgun on the workbench and said, "Take a break from your obsession and look at this."

Seth raised his head with obvious irritation, but the expression vanished the moment he saw the weapon. He pulled his goggles up and leaned closer, studying the old craftsmanship with growing fascination. "That is not something people usually carry into basements."

"A friend gave it to me," Axel said.

Seth looked at him, then back at the gun. "You have very strange friends." He turned the weapon carefully in his hands, admiring the engraving before noticing the supernatural pattern left by the Blood Jade.

The moment Seth sensed what had changed, his irritation disappeared entirely. "This thing isn’t just antique anymore, is it?" Axel explained the Blood Jade fusion and how strongly the weapon responded to Psionic Power, keeping the details simple.

Seth became interested immediately.

"If your enemies were ordinary people, I’d tell you not to overthink it," he said. "But you’re dealing with things that regenerate, ignore pain, or don’t follow normal biology at all." He tapped the workbench thoughtfully and added that a supernatural firearm needed ammunition designed around supernatural enemies rather than ordinary expectations.

That idea caught Axel’s attention at once.

The Chainsaw Sword had already become his answer to close-range threats, but there were situations where getting near the target was unnecessarily dangerous. If the new shotgun could channel Psionic Power efficiently, then specially prepared supernatural ammunition might give him a reliable ranged option against monsters that shrugged off normal attacks.

Axel immediately started considering possibilities. Holy Water, silver, Spirit Binding materials, and other supernatural substances might all have uses depending on what they eventually faced. None of it would matter unless the ammunition could safely interact with the enchanted weapon, but the concept itself was promising.

Seth’s exhaustion seemed to vanish as soon as the problem became interesting. He started sketching broad ideas for how they might test supernatural payloads without interfering with the gun’s enchantment. Axel watched him for several minutes before deciding they needed proper workshop equipment instead of continuing to improvise everything from whatever happened to be lying around the mansion.

Early the next morning, Axel returned to the basement and found Seth slumped in a chair. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, and several failed telepod test samples sat nearby in containers, each one another reminder that the reconstruction problem was still unresolved. Axel patted him on the shoulder and said, "Come on. We’re going out."

Seth barely opened one eye. "No. Sunlight is hostile, and I’m finally getting better layering results." Axel ignored the complaint, hauled him upright, and told him that spending one morning away from the telepods might stop him from turning into part of the basement furniture.

They returned later with legitimate workshop tools, testing equipment, and general materials for supernatural prototyping. Seth, who had looked half-dead when they left, now seemed energized by having a completely different puzzle in front of him. For the first time in days, he was talking about something other than molecular reconstruction.

Back at the mansion, Seth immediately carried the new equipment downstairs. Lionel Cosgrove followed after hearing the activity and stood near the workbench, looking from the antique shotgun to the unfamiliar supplies with mild confusion. "What exactly are you two building now?"

"Something useful," Seth replied. He handed Lionel a set of general workshop notes and pointed toward the cleared section of the bench. "You’re helping."

Lionel looked down at the papers, then back at Seth. He had little else demanding his attention at the moment, and the project was certainly more interesting than sitting upstairs waiting for the Church of Science to reappear. After a moment, he shrugged and joined them.

The basement soon filled with the sounds of tools, arguments, and Seth muttering to himself as the three men began preparing their first round of supernatural ammunition experiments. Whatever the enchanted shotgun eventually became, Axel was certain of one thing. It was no longer just an antique.

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