[center]
[h1]PEW PEW Time![/h1]
[h3]A show hosted by [color=00ffbb]Lawrence B. Ellison[/color] 
With guest star [color=9e0039]Angélique Lachance[/color][/h3]
[img]http://i67.tinypic.com/zkl46a.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/Fb1UXSA.png[/img]  
[color=silver][hr]𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝟞𝕥𝕙, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘   / /   𝕌𝕊𝔸ℝ𝕀𝕃ℕ 𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕥 ℂ𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕦𝕤   / /  𝟘𝟡𝟛𝟘[hr][/color]
[sub]Collab made by [@Riffus Maximus] [@Snagglepuss89][/sub]
[/center]

After waking up and ensuring she was ready for the day, Angélique left her room, her stomach loudly rumbling. Like every morning, her system needed to get some fuel to energize her body. It was already the third day since she had arrived at USARILN, and Angel was already on the move to better plan her stay here. Today, she figured she'd need training with modern weaponry. While she had quite the potent ability, she knew not every creature she would encounter would be so susceptible to sonic attacks. Additionally, there was a limit to her powers, and when that limit was reached, it was a safer bet to rely on something else than be a sitting duck.
 
With this in mind, she first needed to grab breakfast to start the day on the right track. The raven-haired Canadian singer quickly made her way to the establishment's cafeteria with a half-jogging pace. Clearing all formalities aside, she went to the morning pastries part of the dining room and grabbed her usual morning meal:  a few croissants and pancakes. She had seen the chocolate filled pastries, tempting her, but in the end, she decided against grabbing them, still reminding herself about her past healthier habits.
 
Looking over the hall for empty seats, she spotted a familiar figure. A lucky sight, considering her plans for the day, she thought. Making her way throughout the less-than crowded tables, Angélique reached the blond-haired young man who exuded an aura of calm and maturity. He seemed to be finishing up a simple meal of toast and coffee. A typical, if somewhat lacking, breakfast.
 
[color=9e0039]"Hey there, Laurence, was it? Mind if I sit here?"[/color] Angel asked, incorrectly using the young man's French pronunciation, eying the empty chair in front of Lawrence's spot.

"[color=00ffbb]Hmm?[/color]" 

Came the reply from a mouth full of toast as Lawrence looked up from his table- it clearly having more of his attention than the surrounding room. It was one of the women from the other day- that much he could remember. However, not much else was coming to mind about her. The only time they had really been face to face was during her unpleasant arrival. Still, he responded by motioning the seat in front of him before washing down his mouthful of toast with the coffee in front of him.

"[color=00ffbb]Sure, I don't own it or anything. It's all yours...?"[/color]

He trailed off, clearly asking for a name to match with her face.

[color=9e0039]"Angélique, or Angelic if it's too inconvenient to say. Well, Angel is more than enough to me."[/color] The black-haired Aberration responded, switching from the natural French to an English pronunciation of her name, chuckling lightly by the end as she realized she was making her introduction longer than necessary. It was a natural reflex of her to introduce herself as such, mostly because of the various people she had met throughout her career. Working in a more English-dominated business with a French name would often do that.

He nodded in response.

"[color=00ffbb][i]Angélique[/i] then.[/color]"

He replied, deciding that if she was going to pronounce his name in the French manner, he may as well respond in kind. Afterwards, he motioned the seat in front of him with his hand once more as he bit into breakfast.

Nodding courteously as thanks, Angélique sat in front of the blond-haired young man and started digging into her plate. It never ceased to amaze the woman of French-Canadian origins how good the food from this place was. For a prison, it sure tasted as if the pastries were made on place, fresh from the oven. And the diversity of the food too. She knew well American food, but this place went beyond what this country usually provided.
 
Halfway through her meal, Angel looked upwards, gazing at Lawrence from behind her shades. Before he'd finish his food, she figured that she would at least ask him something that she had in mind from the beginning of the day.
 
[color=9e0039]"Say, Laurence. I know this may be too straightforward, coming from someone you barely know, but do you think that you could lend me a hand with firearms in general? I saw you fighting with a shotgun on that night, so I figured you might know more about them than the others."[/color] she finally asked to the white-marked man in front of her.
 
[color=9e0039]"To be completely honest with you, I'd rather ask you than one of those guards watching us."[/color] She added, not even bothering to lower her voice despite the same guards she just mentioned being present all around them.

"[color=00ffbb]Afraid of running into a repeat of your first day here?[/color]"

Angel simply nodded to the assumption. She could still remember how ineffective her shots had been against the meatball she tried to shoot at.

He bit into his toast then to buy some time to think. The question [i]had[/i] surprised him, and it wasn't often Lawrence B. Ellison was taken by surprise these days. When he saw she was an Abe, it was a natural assumption that she had come to ask for a quick hit of his powers- not to teach her about [i]firearms[/i]. In fact, that had [i]never[/i] been the reason anybody had come to talk to him. The guards were of course a better option for that, being actual trained soldiers, but Lawrence had a good teacher as well.

As he finished chewing, he looked to an invisible watch on his wrist, before replying:

"[color=00ffbb]You free after we eat? I've got a few hours right now.[/color]"

[color=9e0039]"Of course! I have plans for today, trying to arrange the dinner I promised to my old team, but I can squeeze some time to learn about shooting straight with guns right away."[/color] Angélique answered, apparently satisfied from the grin drawn on her face.

"[color=00ffbb]Good, finish up and we'll get going then.[/color]"

----------------------------------------------------------------

The two walked to the training grounds in relative silence, the weather so far deciding to cooperate with their plan for the day. It looked as if the two were marching off to war, or were action heroes in a bad 90's movie. Lawrence with his thick jacket, and Angélique with her shades. Both were armed with a primary and secondary weapon: Angel a .338 rifle and 9mm handgun. Lawrence with his trusty shotgun and a .38 revolver. They might not get to all of them that day- and truthfully shouldn't- but it was best to be prepared.

On the far side of the training grounds, well away from any buildings, a simple shooting range was set up. Clearly not one meant for the guards, but operated by the students. There was nobody there yet today- and compared to the other training facilities at the school was one of the less frequently used ones due to the nature of their abilities- and only the sound of their own footsteps welcomed them to the spot. Lined up at the front were a series of desks to act as shooting benches, and their drawers contained a variety of materials to set up targets with. Underneath each desk was a generous stack of waterproof white boards to set up at the range- with a variety of florescent orange and green targets of various sizes contained in the drawers to serve as points to aim at.

Orange stones were layed out at varying intervals in front of the desks- first at ten yards until they reached fifty, then at twenty-five yards until they reached all the way to three hundred out in the distance. Finally, behind each desk was a small pile of what looked like sandbags- about half a dozen of various sizes. Lawrence set his firearms on the table- along with the boxes of ammunition he had shoved in his pocket- and got to work pulling out the various supplies from the desk. Finally, handing a roll of orange dots and a stapler to Angel he asked:

"[color=00ffbb]Could you set these up at the 5th and 7th markers? Two each should do for now.[/color]"

For his part, Lawrence gathered his own set of supplies- green dots instead of orange- and began setting up his own set of targets. Both closer to the desks and more numerous than what he had asked Angel to do.

[color=9e0039]"Will do."[/color] Angélique nodded, taking the equipment Lawrence handed to her before jogging her way to the indicated markers. 
 
Like Lawrence, Angel had set up her weaponry onto the desks before running off to the 5th and 7th markers. Reaching each mark, Angel swiftly aligned the red dot and punched the stapler thrice into each target before returning to the row of desks. Upon returning, she noticed her partner's targets were closer but considerably greater in number than what she had set up. Perhaps those were meant for the shotgun and the revolver? Judging from the weapons they had been carrying, it was a safe bet to think that the rifle and the handgun were more meant to be used at long range, while the revolver and shotgun were to be used at close range. Not that she was an expert though, she simply assumed by popular knowledge.
 
[color=9e0039]"All done. Anything else?"[/color]

"[color=00ffbb]Nope, just give me a bit. There's a reason I asked if you had a few [i]hours[/i].[/color]"

With that, he moved everything except the rifle and a box of .338 ammo to a different desk, and retrieved three of the sand bags from behind his makeshift shooting bench. He set two of them up close to the stock, and one further out supporting the barrel. After that, he pulled up a chair and took a seat, looking into the scope of the rifle and twisting it occasionally, before standing up once more and adjusting the sandbags. Eventually satisfied, he walked over to Angel once more and handed her the rifle.

"[color=00ffbb]All right, we're going to cover all the boring stuff first, so try not to fall asleep. I'm going to go over all the basics so if you feel like I'm treating you like a child- I am.[/color]"

Wish a sigh, remembering his own lessons, he continued:

"[color=00ffbb]This specifically is a Winchester Model 70- that's not very important to know, but in case you wanted it for yourself. You can find what you like as you experiment on your own. What is important is it's been rechambered to shoot .338 caliber magnum rounds. There's dozens of dozens of different kinds and I'm not going to try to teach you all of them, and I'm not expert myself, but essentially the higher the first two numbers go- the more punch is in the bullet.[/color]"

Only stopping for a moment to let it sink in, he continued, laying his hand on the open bolt.

"[color=00ffbb]It is a bolt-action rifle. The bolt opens and closes the action. It will not fire while the bolt is open, and you should only [i]ever[/i] close it when you're going to be firing it soon. Having primed bullets all the time is asking for an accident to happen. This model can hold three .338 rounds in it, you slide them in through the open action there. It takes a bit of practice to be able to do it smoothly, so don't worry if you fumble around with it the first few times you're here on the range.[/color]"

Taking his hand off the bolt, he finally added:

"[color=00ffbb]Go ahead and operate it a few times, get the feel for it. You won't be able to set up a bench or stand on the field too often, so getting used to doing it in your hands will help. Any questions yet?[/color]"

Angelique listened with intent as she watched Lawrence motioning how to operate the rifle she had been holding. There was a lot of information to take in all at once, but some of it seemed like simple stuff to remember. The higher the size of the caliber, the higher punch she'd get from them. So, did that meant that when she ordered the Desert Eagle from her acquisition request form, would the .4 magnum bullets be more potent that the .338 this rifle had in? 
 
It was however more tedious about learning the safety protocols of the rifle. Opening the bolt to disengage its firing mechanism, close it to engage fire mode, was it? So, this weapon seemed to use individual bullets instead of ammunition cartridges? She eyed the rifle, inspected its parts and tried to figure out where and how the bullets went in and where they went out after being shot.
 
The way she was holding the gun, it was apparent that she feared touching the trigger accidentally, and so her hands were holding the Winchester far from its trigger as she operated awkwardly the bolt action on the gun.
 
[color=9e0039]"Hmm... so let me summarize what you just told me, just to be sure I understood. This Winchester hold .335 caliber bullets. Higher the caliber, higher impact it does. By the way, can you put all sort of bullets in a gun, or is it designed to shoot a single type of bullet?"[/color]
 
[color=9e0039]"So if I open the bolt, the gun can't fire, but when it's closed, it can shoot, right? Say, is that one of those weapons you have to crank up the bolt each time you fire to be able to shoot the next round?"[/color]

"[color=00ffbb].338, if you were trying to find .335 you'd have a hell of a goose chase. Anyway, that's more or less the gist of it. Guns are designed to fire one caliber of bullet. [i]can[/i] it fire others? I'm sure there are instances where that might be able to work, but generally no and you should never try, that's asking for an accident to happen. However, there are ways around it. This for instance originally fired .308 caliber rounds, but has been modified for more power.[/color]"

Turning the gun around slightly, in her hands, he pointed to a switch on the back of the bolt. Currently it was pulled back, away from the barrel of the gun. Lawrence pushed it forward, until it was next to a small word etched on the top of the bolt [i][b]Fire[/b][/i]. He pulled it back once more before speaking:

"[color=00ffbb]That's the safety on this rifle. When it's pulled back, the safety is on, and the gun [i]will not[/i] fire when you pull the trigger. Doesn't matter if you've loaded ammunition into it and have the action closed. Just like you never close the action until you're ready to fire, never turn the safety off-[/color]"

He flipped the switched forward once more.

"[color=00ffbb]- Until you're sure you're ready to start using this weapon. Doesn't matter if the gun's empty or not, if you don't use good habits all the time you might send a bullet into somebody when we have no healer around, including yourself. You saw when you got here just how deadly they still are to people like us.[/color]"

Finally, he took his hand off the gun once more.

"[color=00ffbb]Go ahead and cycle through action closed, safety on, action closed safety off, ready to fire, etc. Until you're comfortable doing it with your eyes closed.[/color]"

[color=9e0039]"Alright then."[/color]
 
Angel nodded, understanding the whole safety concept. Bolt open, can't fire. Bolt closed, can fire unless safety switch if set to safe mode. Fire switch pulled forward, can shoot now. Bolt open, can't fire nonetheless. Bolt closed, now the rifle is primed to fire.
 
The raven-haired amateur practiced a few more times repeating this process, sometimes fumbling during her mumblings about how it worked, but the more times she practiced, the more assurance she would get, and the faster she would get with switching the trigger and the bolt action. She was not perfectly comfortable doing it with her eyes-closed like Lawrence suggested, but she could feel the gig of things coming more naturally into her hands.
 
Practicing was one thing. Hopefully, she wouldn't forget about that on the actual battlefield. 
 
[color=9e0039]"I think I'm getting the hang of it." [/color]
 
She affirmed as she closed her eyes and comfortably switched the Winchester from fully closed mode to fire-ready mode back and forth until the gun was completely safe to handle once more.

[color=9e0039]"Well, I guess that covers that part. What would be next?"[/color]

"[color=00ffbb]Next...[/color]"

He began, taking the rifle from her once more and bringing it to his shoulder, aiming at one of the targets down field. He did not bother to close the bolt or turn off the safety, but everything else in his posture suggest that if the gun was cocked he would be ready to fire. 

"[color=00ffbb]Look at my right hand.[/color]"

It was, as one with even a limited knowledge of firearms might expect, not wrapped around the trigger. Instead it extended in a straight line outside of the trigger guard, parallel to the barrel.

"[color=00ffbb]I'm sure you've at least heard of trigger discipline before. Never wrap your finger around that trigger until you're absolutely sure you're ready to fire. It should always be the [i]last[/i] safety measure that you disengage before shooting, and the first one that you remember to follow. What you do with your finger in the meantime is irrelevant, you don't have to hold it like mine, but-[/color]"

He relaxed, handing the rifle back to her once more.

"[color=00ffbb]- if you keep all that in mind I think we're ready to finally start. You can go ahead and set up the rifle on those sandbags I laid out and adjust the scope until you can clearly see the right-most target I set up at the third marking. Take your time at it, and [i]don't[/i] put a round into the chamber yet.[/color]"

[color=9e0039]"No trigger finger, got it."[/color]
 
Angélique nodded once more. Sounded simple alright, but she could imagine how easy it would be to accidentally pull the trigger unconsciously. If Lawrence took time to give this as a final safety measure, then that meant that a fair share of accidents happened because of this. Perhaps was that the cause of the shoot-out that had happened in the containment cell when they had arrived here in the first place? 
 
Okay then, so how did the scope adjust itself on the rifle? Inspecting it as she reached the sandbag, she found the mechanism that was magnifying the lenses inside the apparel. Knowing where the roulette was, she set up the rifle on the sandbag and knelt behind the bag, closing one eye and keeping the other open through the scope. She slowly adjusted the lenses until the assigned target at the right-most of the third marking became crystal clear to her eye. It took her some time to adjust to this contraption, but part of her found it fascinating just how complex this whole thing was. Actually, she was so focused on Lawrence's instructions and what to do, the whispers at the back of her mind seemed to have vanished into sub consciousness.

[color=9e0039]"Ooooookay, looks pretty clear to me."[/color]

"[color=00ffbb]Okay.[/color]"

He began, digging into his pocket once more and pulling out a disposable packet of ear plugs, and putting them in. Adjusting them until he was confident they were blocking as much noise as they were going to.

"[color=00ffbb]During that battle I [i]did not[/i] grab these, and even though I only fired a few shots, I bet my hearing would be damaged for good if Benediction hadn't shown up at the hospital. [i]Never[/i] fire a weapon without ear protection if you can avoid it. Put yours in, and then ago ahead and load a round from that box next to you into the rifle. Take a shot at the target I told you to focus on- don't worry about hitting it dead on. We don't care about your accuracy right now.[/color]"

[color=9e0039]"Okay..."[/color]
 
Angélique squeezed the ear plugs Lawrence had given her prior to going at the training grounds. Ensuring she could feel sound dampening around her, she then proceeded to take a single round from the box by her side and load it inside the Winchester’s chamber, the pointy end going towards the rifle's barrel.
 
When it was done, Angel set sight onto her target, remembering to switch the trigger into fire position and ensure the bolt action was closed. Then she took a while to adjust her sight towards the target. She gripped the gun hard, her heartbeat going faster by the second, but she recalled Lawrence's words about not touching the trigger until she was sure when she was shooting. Imitating the way he showed her earlier, Angel's index was aligned in parallel to the gun's barrel, until she would set upon the decision to fire.
 
When she pulled the trigger, however, she did not expect the kickback from the gun to be so intense. Sure, she'd seen a few fail videos online of people being caught off-guard by the weapon's recoil, but she didn't expect it to be that bad. After the shot fired, her shoulder jerked back, throwing the raven-haired young woman off-balance on her knees while the rifle fell from the sandbag, by Angel's side,
 
Rubbing her shoulder from the sudden shock, Angel got on to her feet and grabbed the rifle lying down on the ground, disengaging the fire-mode before looking back at Lawrence. 
 
[color=9e0039]"Holy fuck. This thing sure packs a kick back at you when you don't expect it."[/color]

He chuckled in response to the scene, there had been a reason he only wanted her to load one round into the chamber. Not that he [i]fully[/i] expected that to happen, but it seemed like he was at least going to get some entertainment from this outing. Anyway, some lessons were best learned by experience.

"[color=00ffbb]Yeah, that's the .338 for you, has a nasty kick until you're used to it. Just wait until you're practicing with the shotgun.[/color]"

He briefly nodded towards it on the other bench.

"[color=00ffbb]Anyway, I don't think I need to tell you that dropping the weapon while it's ready to fire is another safety 'no-no' do I?[/color]"

With a sigh of faux-exasperation, he took a step forward and pointed at the bolt once again.

"[color=00ffbb]Work the action back again to eject the spent casing. You need to do this every time you fire even if you have multiple rounds loaded. Then you can set the rifle on the bench and go out to check how you did.[/color]"

Feeeling slightly embarrassed from this outcome, Angélique shyly nodded at Lawrence's instruction. She couldn't imagine how much kick a shotgun would provide. Safety switch on, Angel pulled the bolt-action inwards, the barrel opened to eject the spent round out of the gun, flying to the ground with a small [i]clink[/i].

Seetting the rifle onto the sandbag, Angel walked towards the target she shot at. There wasn't a single bullet hole present on it, meaning she completely missed her mark. That was a big disappointment, but she blamed her inexperience for that, and was sure she could do better next time. 

Angel returned to Lawrence, a slight frown of disappointement etched on her face. 

[color=9e0039]"Well, looks like I completely missed. Bullet must've gone off completely off-target."[/color]

By the time she got back the casing was standing upright in the box, replacing the bullet that had been fired. Other than that, it didn't appear as if Lawrence had done much.

"[color=00ffbb]Yeah, knocked on your ass and missed, sounds about right. Now that you're going to be anticipating the recoil, you have to make sure it doesn't make your trigger finger stiff, or you're going to be even further off your mark.[/color]"

Turning towards the rifle he added:

"[color=00ffbb]As for the safety, good job turning it off before leaving the rifle, but you don't need to operate it every time you stop firing. If you have it on you and you're at a break in the shooting, leaving the action open and trigger discipline should be fine, you don't want to have it on and forget it in the middle of a fight.[/color]"

Stepping over to the other table for a moment, he added:

"[color=00ffbb]I was going to mention this when we got to the other guns, since it's not as easy to do with a rifle, but there is one more measure above trigger discipline- never point the barrel of your gun at someone you're not trying to kill. Empty, loaded, safety on or off, never. Always keep it pointing at the ground if you can, and not at your own feet. Try to avoid pointing up if it's loaded, since bullets have to come down somewhere. Anyway, go ahead and keep practicing, one bullet at a time, until you can at least hit the post. The target doesn't matter as much.[/color]"

[color=9e0039]"Sir yes sir!" [/color]

Angel joked, bringing herself back into the same position she had been before. Acknowledging the earlier advices, she set up the rifle into firing position once more on the sand bag. Switching the trigger back into its firing position, she swiftly pushed the bolt back to its closing position. Now that she had a good idea about the rifle's kick, she braced herself for one more shot, gripping the gun tightly as she aimed towards the target, trigger finger inside the triggering circle, put at ease away from the trigger. 

Then came the shot. This time, her shoulder jerked away, but she kept good balance on her dominant knee. From the scope, she didn't feel like the bullet hit its mark, again. But she was slowly getting accustomed to the gun's recoil.

Angel unloaded the empty shell from the Winchester. keeping in mind what Lawrence said about not necessarily pulling the trigger back to its safety position, as long as the bolt was kept open. She went towards the target to inspect it. Nope, nothing on there again.

This cycle continued on and forth until the 5th shot came in. Bracing herself for her shot, Angel sighed softly, trying to relax a bit more. While she was aiming, she kept focus on her mark, but at the same time wanted to say something.

[color=9e0039]"By the way, thank you for helping me. You're a good teacher."[/color]

Bang, there came the shot. And this time, the sound of a fast-paced object striking a wooden frame could be heard.

Ejecting the spent bullet from its chamber, Angel set the rifle onto the sandbag, investigating if she had hit her target. Indeed, she had. While it was not a dead-center shot, she managed to hit a spot on the outer rims of the target.

From afar, she turned to Lawrence, raising her arm with a thumb raised before walking back to him.

[color=9e0039]"Finally did it!"[/color]

Lawrence nodded in satisfaction as she threw him the thumbs up. He hadn't commented earlier when she remarked on his teaching- there was nothing to say. He was merely copying his own teacher, who was the one she should be giving thanks to. Still, there was no point in telling her that. The man was dead, with no grave to pay any respects to.

[i][color=00ffbb]C'est la vie.[/color][/i]

Still, he did feel a sense of unwarranted pride at the sight of that thumbs up. Six shots to get on target wasn't bad for a first attempt, and it gave them quite a bit of ammo left to practice with. He would need to requisition more, but that was on USARILN East to supply. He'd be damned if he was to cough up money to buy .338 every time he needed it to fight [i]their[/i] battles, shit was expensive. As it was, they had about fifteen more shots to work with if he didn't break into his spare box- and he would prefer to do that than move on to a different gun. May as well practice with the same one as much as possible.

When she got back, he finally returned her thumbs up. 

"[color=00ffbb]Good job, now for the reason I was saying the target didn't matter: I want you to keep aiming for exactly where you were when that shot landed. The goal is to be consistent with your shooting, accuracy will come as you learn how to adjust you sights and your aim. I want you to shoot another five rounds at that target, and we'll see how close together they all land.[/color]"

Seeing Lawrence returning her thumbs up, Angel felt some pride creeping up inside her. It sort of felt like when her parents congratulated her on her first successful riff on a guitar, or the very first verse of a rock song she covered perfectly. There was still some kind of guilt to actually learn something as taboo to her as handling firearms, but given the current situation, she figured she might start with it sooner than too late.
 
Again, she nodded comprehensively at the Arbiter's instructions. So, the goal right now was to try getting her shots steadier, more accurate by aiming for the exact same spot. It wasn't too hard, aiming for the same spot, as she always tried to aim at the dead center of the target.
 
Once more, she repositioned herself, round prepared beforehand by her instructor and fellow sub natural. However, while she maintained the same position, she shifted the Winchester closer to her elbow, trying to find a better grip, adjusting her face to the scope in a more relaxed way. Perhaps she was too stiff? 
 
The first shot completely missed its mark, mostly due to Angélique worrying more about her posture than actual than actually improving her aim.
 
Second shot hit the post, still lengths away from the actual target, not so much improving since her first successful shot.
 
Third shot was more of a success however, inching closer to the center of the target. It was more due to dumb rookie luck than anything else.
 
Fourth shot was somewhat similar, only that now it was more because she adapted from her previous attempts. Learning from her previous shots, she eased up on her shoulder area, all the while maintaining a firm grip on the gun.
 
Fifth shot was definitively an improvement. Still a few inches off-mark, but it was the closest shot she got out of all she had fired so far. By now, she had learned that it was not about pushing her shoulder forward to counter the rifle's kick back, but more about using her shoulder as a stabilizing pad, and her hands were just there to aim the firearm and keep it steady, not hold it stiffly into place. 
 
After returning to inspect her latest shot, Angel walked back to Lawrence with a slight grin of satisfaction. Sure, there were some more progress to be made still, but she was improving bit by bit. It had been time consuming, walking back and forth to inspect her shots, taking her time to find an appropriate way to aim, hold the gun steady, but there was a genuine interest into doing this, and it actually kept her focused on something else than the inside of her mind.
 
[color=9e0039]"Fifth shot down. Are we doing more?"[/color]

Lawrence held up his hand for her to hold on while he went out himself to inspect her shooting. However, when he came back he was frowning. 

"[color=00ffbb]Yeah. I think quite a bit more... give me a second.[/color]"

He walked down the line of desks then, looking under each one with increasingly dissatisfaction, before he finally reached the one at the furthest end of the range. Reaching under it, he pulled out what looked to be a sheet of cardboard that was painted white, cut out in a 3'x3' square. Then, digging around the drawers once more, he pulled out a set of hammer and nails, along with a new green dot. Finally, he made his way out to the 3rd marker once more and went to the second post he had set up there. In another minute, the board was nailed to the post, with the new dot resting in the middle of it. 

Finally, he returned. to Angel, setting the materials on a different desk.

"[color=00ffbb]I can understand adjusting how you want to shoot to find something comfortable, but this should allow us a better idea of your consistency. Shoot five more, and shoot the same way for each of them. The goal-[/color]"

He stopped for a moment to pull a pen out of his pocket and draw on the desk. He drew a rough outline of his cardboard square and the dot in the middle. Then, he placed five dots near the top right corner, all within an inch or two of each other.

"[color=00ffbb]- Is to get a tight grouping. Even if your first shot misses its mark, it doesn't matter. Try to get the holes close together. Do it by aiming at the same spot the same way consistently- don't adjust to try and hit the first hole you make. Fire all five before getting up to check, and take your time at it if you need to.[/color]"

Angel watched on silently as Lawrence went to set up an actual target on the shooting posts. Perhaps he wanted to give her an actual point where to shoot, make it easier for her to get a point of reference. This time around, it looked like he wanted to test her consistency. So, that meant, no matter if she missed, she must keep shooting the same way, stop with the whole adjustments.
 
[color=9e0039]“Alright, let’s see what I can do”[/color]
 
the black-haired X-mark nodded as she went back to the Winchester, looking on as the rifle was empty. This time around, she guessed she could load the chamber to its 3 rounds capacity, given she would now be doing consecutive shots. 
 
Last time, her shot seemed to be fairly good, she figured, so she took the same stance, positioning herself behind the sandbag, rifle resting on it while she held the gun firmly in hands and positioned the rifle’s butt onto the area between her shoulder and the pectoral muscle. 
 
Aiming for the dot in the middle of the white cardboard target, Angel took a deep breath, focusing, before letting out the first shot. Having practiced five times prior to this shot finding a better way to position and hold the Winchester steady really showed this time; the bullet embedded itself not exactly dead center on the target, but it was relatively close, a few inches away above the dot.
 
Keeping in mind to aim at the same dot with the same way she just shot, Angel pulled the bolt lever to eject the spent ammo casing. Again, she resumed aiming with the same way she previously did. Steady, breathing, focus, shoot.
 
She repeated this process 4 more times. Second shot came close to where the first landed. While the third shot was slightly sideways compared to the first two shots.  Fourth shot was a few inches upwards from the first two, fifth shot, however, grouped by the other first three holes and even inched downwards towards the dot at the center of the cardboard target. 
 
[color=9e0039]“Hmmm… it’s a bit hard to be consistent considering the kick back, and the fact you have to pull the bolt each time after shooting. Worse when reloading after the third shot.”[/color]
 
Angélique remarked as she pulled the bolt open, sending the empty round falling to the ground before setting the rifle back onto the desk.

[color=9e0039]"Let's go check out how I did, hm?"[/color]

Lawrence simply nodded in response to her before beginning to walk over to the targets, motioning for her to follow with him, on the way over he answered:

"[color=00ffbb]Yeah, a semi-auto would be easier, but if you can get used to the mechanics of a harder rifle smoothly, the transition isn't going to hurt you any, and you have a bit more variety in your effectiveness. I tend to favor older rifles because of how they feel and their reliability if you maintain them well, but that doesn't mean they're better overall. As long as the gun fires the caliber you want it to fire and gets it to the target you want it to get to- the differences are petty.[/color]"

Having arrived at the target, he took a moment to examine her groupings, and seemingly finding what he was looking for, Lawrence walked over to the previous target she was shooting at. Finally, he began walking back and motioned for her to follow once more.

"[color=00ffbb]That was a pretty good grouping for a beginner, and it shows it wasn't a defect in the ammo causing the missed shots. Probably just a matter of adjusting the sights for you or learning where the gun is trying to put the bullet. I know it shoots a little high for me even if I'm aiming dead center, so I always have to account for that when I shoot. Anyway, I think we should leave the pistols for a different day- they're a whole different ball game-and finish off the other box of .338 I brought. We definitely have enough time to get to the shogun though.[/color]"

Having arrived back at the original bench, he took the supplied he had set aside from earlier and added:

"[color=00ffbb]I'm going to set up something similar at the five and seven marker targets that I had you set up at the beginning. We have about twenty-five shots left with the .338, I figure we'll use ten of them at fifty yards, and fifteen of them at a hundred yards. One set of five for finding the target, and then the rest to work on groupings.[/color]"

Angélique mentally noted everything Lawrence said about training with the bolt-action rifle differing much from training with semi-automatic firearms. Train at the highest difficulty first, so it would seem like a piece of cake for the other guns, huh? She was kind of impressed by how complex the whole aiming thing was, by how many instances the bullet can miss its intended target. Those aren’t the stuff you’d learn from video-games or movies, that’s for sure.
 
The initiate was glad to hear about such details. It made her feel like her training wasn’t being taught half-assed, that by the end of it she’d properly know about gun etiquette.
 
She was half-disappointed when Lawrence told her handgun training would have to wait for another day. Realistically, she was looking forward to know how to properly use a handgun, since that was the type of firearm she’d imagine using most, and because that’s what she had requested to get. However, she understood his words as he wouldn’t mind spending a few hours on another day to teach her about such, which she was looking forward to.
 
For the next twenty-five shots, Angel pretty much repeated the exercises Lawrence had made her do from the earlier ten shots. She shot five times at the fifth marker to find the right aim to hit the target, then five other shots to test her grouping consistency. The same applied at the seventh marker, only that she instead took 6 shots to feel the cardboard target and fired nine times to test the consistency.
 
Shooting farther targets showed on her performance, but it was still quite respectable for a rookie. As she had taken her shots, Angel had minded Lawrence telling her to adjust to where the gun was shooting where she was aimed, especially when he told her that his shots seemed to be higher than where he was aiming, kind of like how her consistency test showed. As such, she lowered her aim to fire below the targeted dots.
 
On the fifty-yards target, she first managed to land four out of five shots, somewhat scattered but on point. The next five shots were surprisingly good. Adapting her aim to the Winchester’s firing, she managed to get a closer group of bullet holes to the center. 
 
At a hundred yards, things were a tad more complicated, it took her three shots to correctly find her mark and the next three shots were to center herself on the dot. As for the nine consistency shots, there has been three different groupings with a distinct pattern between them, each from after reloading the rifle. The first grouping was at the farthest of the targets, and as the shots went on, the two other groupings inched towards the target’s center dot. 
 
[color=9e0039]“I can’t believe snipers hit targets five times smaller than that on the first shot.” [/color]

Angel chuckled as she ejected the last round from the Winchester.

He let out a sight in response to that, running a hand through his hair.

"[color=00ffbb]Yeah, with tailored equipment. And a spotter. And a lot of math. And so much wasted money in practice shooting. I think this is fine personally considering the size of the things we'll be shooting.[/color]"

After that, he began collecting the remaining spent .338 casings and shoving them back onto their boxes. He knew a guy who liked to do reloading as a hobby, and while he'd order a new box of factory ammunition for actual combat, a couple boxes of reloaded rounds would be fine for a future practice session. He needed to practice himself soon to work some of the rust out of his system, but that could wait for another day.

After he finished with that, Lawrence grabbed his rifle off of the desk- stopping only to switch the safety on once more- and set it aside with his other weapons. Then, he grabbed the shotgun he had used in the previous day's battle and brought it over with the same type of ammunition he had been using that day. Showing it to her, he began:

"[color=00ffbb]All right, this is a break-action shotgun. Unlike with the bolt action, you need to-[/color]"

With some force, he placed his hand a short distance down the barrel and pushed, snapping the barrel of the gun downwards and leaving the gun hinged at an acute angle.

"[color=00ffbb]Break the action, and then you just prime a shell directly into the barrel before-[/color]"

Placing his hand under the barrel this time, he brought back into place with a satisfying snap, more smoothly than trying to break it open.

"[color=00ffbb]Closing the action again. Once it's back in this position it's ready to fire. The safety is on the right side of the gun instead of the top for this one, same concept though. Forward is off, backward is on.[/color]"

Finally, he handed it to her after the demonstration was over.

"[color=00ffbb]Go ahead and get used to it like with the bolt-action. It's deadly, not complicated.[/color]"

Compared to the bolt-action Winchester, the shotgun seemed more intimidating to operate than the former. Watching Lawrence “breaking” the shotgun to prime a shell inside, Angel now understood why it was called this way. She wondered if there was some kind of switch to make it open like that, but seeing the force applied behind breaking it open, it seemed more like using raw strength. 
 
Nodding to her instructor, the rookie inspected how the shotgun was made, flipping the safety trigger on and off, making sure it was on safe mode before trying to open it.
 
At first, it took her a moment to pry the gun open, applying pressure on the barrel to open it without breaking it. Eventually, she realized it was no use trying to be delicate, and so applied full force down the barrel. Obviously inexperienced at this, when the shotgun’s barrel swung open, the lack of proper gripping shifted the gun downwards, the barrel nearly hitting the girl’s legs.
 
With a nervous sigh, she inspected the holes where the shells needed to be primed, then snapped the barrel close with accidental excessive force.
 
Angel repeated the same opening and closing process a few more times, trying to get used to open and close it in a smoother fashion like Lawrence did on his demonstration, without swinging it open on her leg.
 
[color=9e0039]““Well… this is a bitch, compared to the rifle.”[/color]

He watched her struggle, with no small amusement, for a few moments before walking over to the box of shells he laid out on the desk and pulling one out. Then, gently, he took the gun from her once more and broke the action on it before holding the shell up so she could get a good look at it.

"[color=00ffbb]Shotguns mainly fire two different types of shells. Mostly what you see in movies are shot, such as buckshot. Spreads wide, loses effectiveness past a medium range. Not as wide or as ineffective as movies would have you believe, but it's not really going to do much against what we're fighting unless you happen to shoot them point blank.[/color]"

For emphasis, he gave the shell in his hand a little shake.

"[color=00ffbb]This however is a slug, one solid round, about three times heavier than a bullet, give or take. Once you know what you're doing, it can hit harder and more accurately from a farther distance, and from my experience this will help you a lot more against the sort of things we're up against than bullets tend to. Every weapon has its use, and this...[/color]"

He primed the shell into the barrel of the shotgun before dropping to one knee and aiming down range. There were no monsters rushing him, no outside distractions. With relative ease, he took a full breath, and gently laid his finger on the trigger a third of the way through his exhale. 

He visibly jerked as the butt of the gun slammed into his shoulder, but the impact was dulled by his thick coat. With some satisfaction, he could see the hole blown through her previous target at the seventh marker- the top quarter of the green dot now replaced with the sight of grass behind it. Breaking the action, he caught the shell as it ejected and stuffed it into his pocket, letting the barrel cool for a moment before handing it back to Angel.

"[color=00ffbb]... more or less does the job I need it to.[/color]"

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t impressed by the firepower behind the cacophonous shot of Lawrence’s gun. Not only did he hit that target at its center a hundred yards away with a gun that wasn’t popularly known for its accuracy, but the huge hole it made showed just how much the damage this thing could pack. To think this kind of weapon was used against humans in recent years… before the monsters began showing up, before Dreamcatcher showed up. 
 
[color=9e0039]“That’s… impressive…” [/color]
 
Angel trailed off, the thought about fighting monsters with something she was previously against handling bothered her as she had started thinking about the whole mess that initially pitted humanity against monsters and the existence of subnaturals, her presence on this campus. 
 
Grabbing the shotgun Lawrence handed to her, Angel cracked the gun open – more comfortably this time around - and inserted a slug inside. Taking the same stance she previously did with the rifle, she minded resting her hand on the sandbag rather than the gun itself, figuring she’d need as much grip as possible considering just how violent the recoil seemed to be at first sight. 
 
It was more difficult to aim than with the rifle too. The shotgun didn’t have any scope mounted, so she’d have to rely on her very own depth of view this time coupled with the iron fixated sights on the gun that provided a minimum amount of reference as to where Angel was aiming. Knowing she lacked proper training with the gun, she wouldn’t try hitting the same target Lawrence did. Instead, she opted for the safer approach and aimed towards the closest post, wanting to get a feeling from the gun before venturing onto further targets. 
 
The black-haired Aberration braced her lightly-covered shoulder for the incoming impact and breathed, her finger reaching for the trigger as she exhaled.
 
As expected for a first shot, she wasn't quite as successful as how she had been with the rifle previously. Her shoulder had jerked back quite hard, catching her half off-guard, but she didn’t lose balance nor dropped the gun compared to the first time she shot with the rifle. The huge kick-back kind of surprised her, but her initial bracing and previous experience with the Winchester bore some fruits. However, the recoil very much messed her shot, the roaring slug hit the ground a bit further away from the post with a thud, sending a patch of dirt flying.
 
[color=9e0039]“Say, I’ve often heard about shotguns not being so precise. But for you to hit a target so far away with such precision, I guess it’s the type of bullets that matters, and not the gun itself?” [/color]

"[color=00ffbb]Well, it's a lot of things.[/color]"

He began, taking another slug out of the box and placing it in front of her.

"[color=00ffbb]With the way that shotgun is designed, it's meant for hunting at longer distances than say... a SPAS designed for close encounters, or especially a sawed-off variant. Longer barrel, a sturdier stock, and rifled choke tube, although it's debatable if that last one helps a whole lot. I think over extreme distances, and a hundred yards is pretty extreme for a shotgun, it's worth the investment. Other than that, inaccurate shotguns are a bit of Hollywood mixed with reality. If I had some buckshot here you'd be surprised how well it was still grouped at fifty yards.[/color]"

Not all of this had come from Lawrence's teacher. Much of the info that went into choosing his own weapons was hours of his own research and testing. An effort for someone that was otherwise powerless to at least be able to save their own life in a pinch.

"[color=00ffbb]In any case, we have about fifteen more slugs to work with, since I used some of them up the other day. Go ahead and shoot at the second marker for a while. Then if you hit it a couple times move on to the third one. If you feel brave after that, go on and aim for the fifth one. Don't bother wasting ammo on the seventh. Remember not to stiffen up expecting the increased recoil, and if you find you aim is constantly off, try to line the front sight just slightly lower than the top of the rear sights. Iron sights take some getting used to, and again- I adjusted them for me, not you.[/color]"

Satisfied with his own explanation, he finished up by putting a hand on her shoulder and adding:

"[color=00ffbb]Pistols are a lot more dangerous and a lot harder to aim, so I think we'll stop after those boxes are empty. No use flooding you with more than you can process at the end of the day.[/color]"

With that, he walked over to the desk beside hers and sat down, content to relax and watch for the rest of the session.

Angel affirmatively nodded in response to Lawrence’s explanations. Granted, she didn’t think she’d have to remember ALL the finer details about the different variety of shotguns, but it was a good base to know nonetheless. 
 
She was however surprised to know that pistols were a lot harder to aim than the two type of funs she had been practicing with so far. It was almost disbelieving that a much smaller gun would be causing more issue than what those two caused so far.
 
Acknowledging Lawrence’s instructions, the X-marked Canadian returned to her firing position after loading the shotgun with the slug her teacher had put in front of her. 
 
For the remainder of the training session, Angel practiced with the roughly fifteen shells remaining from the ammunition box. Her first shots, just like with the rifle, was to get accustomed to properly hold the gun, adjusting her position to counter the powerful recoil, easing her stance to prevent loss of accuracy and such. 
 
There had been a few missed shots, naturally, usually occurring the first shots she took on newer targets. Overall, it wasn’t such a bad training session, but the results were apparently less satisfying than with the rifle. Indeed, her lithe body frame took the shotgun’s recoil far worse than the rifle’s. In the end, Angel didn’t bother trying to show off and hit the fifth marked target, content simply by trying and learning from the first targets. 
 
By the time she ran out of assigned shells, Angélique ejected the shell from the shotgun’s chamber, her movements noticeably more fluid than before. She closed the shotgun’s barrel shut into its original position before switching the safety trigger back to its safe mode. 
 
After putting the gun down on the desk, the apprentice sighed as she crept up her hand on her firing shoulder to massage it all the while she was rotating slightly her shoulder, trying to ease up the numb feeling that had begun to manifest up her arm. 
 
She muttered something in her native language before turning to a sitting Lawrence, flashing up a smile in his direction.
 
[color=9e0039]“Well, I guess that’s it, huh? I’ll help taking down what we set up over there.” [/color]
 
She motioned to the fifth and seventh markers.

Lawrence watched her click the safety back on with satisfaction before giving her another thumb up as his response. Methodically he went about tearing down what he had set up- many of the targets remaining unused, and returning the supplies to their appropriate drawers. The materials that had become slightly more... used than before were put into a separate pile beside the first desk, and Lawrence hunted the grass around the benches for any spent shells he may have missed.

Finally, he double checked his guns to make sure they had no ammo in the chamber, before collecting them and the boxes of ammunition, handing the two that Angel has carried in back to her.

"[color=00ffbb]Well, I'd say this was a pretty productive session. Even if you forget half of it by the time you come back, you still have a pretty strong base to work off of. I'll spare you the details about cleaning them until you have your own to worry about. Try not to come here alone though if you can help it- and it doesn't have to be me. Plenty of students have picked up shooting since coming here, you don't want to get injured with nobody around to help- you can bleed to death even from a shot to the foot by the time you crawl back to the hospital.[/color]"

With that grim reminder, he let out a sigh.

"[color=00ffbb]You don't want to be remembered as the woman who survived being thrown to monsters on her first day and then shot herself to death by accident, do you?[/color]"

Angel acknowledged what her instructor said, paying special attention to the part about not coming here alone. So, she guessed that she wouldn’t slip by here for a sneaky training routine once she gets her own firearms. Didn’t really matter though. She was happy with what she learned here today, and would be looking forward to train with someone next time, perhaps with Lawrence once more, if time and opportunities would allow it.
 
However, when the white-marked spoke about surviving the ordeal they went through a few days ago, her face turned somewhat somber. Already a few days that this happened, and she was here, as if she was okay with everything that had happened, already began making a routine, adapting to living here. Was it truly what she wanted though? Did she already submit to living for the rest of her life, imprisoned here? 
 
[color=9e0039]“Say, Laurence. I’ve heard you’ve been here for quite a while, at least way longer than I or the others. What’s it like… living here?” [/color]

"[color=00ffbb]Hard to say exactly.[/color]"

What [i]was[/i] it like to live at USARILN East? He'd become too used to it by that point, that it wasn't exactly an easy question to consider. At least, from the perspective of someone just arriving. Minus a few... particularly terrible realities, he had become content with the life he had come to live. Whether that could be said the same of everyone though...

"[color=00ffbb]It can be a bit stressful, there's always going to be the chance of being thrown to the wolves in the middle of your day, getting injured, getting killed. Still though, I mean they do a decent job of letting us live a [i]semi[/i] normal life in spite of that, or at least the life we choose to. With the money they give us every month and their hands off approach to policing what we actually do... You pretty much get to learn that as long as you bite when they say bite, your time outside of battle isn't going to be too terrible.[/color]"

[color=00ffbb][i]Except for the death.[/i][/color]

It was a subject that was too close for home for him to bring up. He neither wanted to brush Angel off about the issue, nor wanted to talk about his own experiences. It was the type of thing that healed faster the more you were wounded, but some were still bleeding. He preferred to keep them bandaged and forgotten until they became scars like the others.

[color=9e0039]“"I... see..." [/color]

Angel trailed off. She wasn't entirely satisfied by the answer, feeling it was rather vague, but she figured that there would perhaps be a reason why he answered this way. She didn't want to pry though. She was curious, yes, but she didn't want to ruin the day they just had so far. Couldn't exactly say it was like going at the park or anything like that, far from it, but it had been rather... enjoyable, to spend some time with someone this calm and collected and focus on something else than pushing her inner demons away.

[color=9e0039]"So I guess we're calling it a day." [/color]

Angel concluded the discussion about their life at USARILN, picking up the guns she initially came here with at the beginning.

He shrugged apologetically in response, although to which statement was hard to tell. With a quick glance to double check that everything was ready for the next student that wandered over, Lawrence grabbed his firearms and began walking in the direction of the Institution once more.

"[color=00ffbb]I mean, ultimately whether it's good or bad, you have to work with what you're given. It's hard to say how life will be during your stay here, but it'll be better if you make the best of it. So, make lemonade if you can is the real answer, or start looking up a recipe you can enjoy.[/color]"

[color=9e0039]“"Hmmm... I suppose so. Or I could be pessimist and say to suck it up and bite into said lemons. Not that it would do me any good, just being a sour fuck. To each their own I guess, right?"[/color]

[color=9e0039]“"Anyway, thank you for today. It was fun, is what I should say if we were on a date right now, but I can hardly call firearms training a date now, would we? It's been interesting, to say the least. I really appreciate your help."[/color]

Lawrence felt a chill creep up his spine at the mention of the word '[color=9e0039]date[/color]' and couldn't help but glance northwards towards Ground Zero. Not able to make out the Ground Zero Ghost from this distance, but still knowing exactly where she was. A date? No, he wouldn't call it that. He wasn't comfortable facing what such a label would imply. 

Still, it had been a good time, so he thrust a final thumb up her way after turning his gaze back to his companion. He refused to let bad days of the past ruin the good ones of the present, at least as far as his mood was concerned. Angel, at least, didn't deserve to be brought down by them.

"[color=00ffbb]Doesn't have to be a date to be fun, eh? I had a good time as well as an interesting one at least, Angélique.[/color]"

Angel flashed a grin to Lawrence as he saw his thumb up.

The return to Lawrence's room was pretty much uneventful, quite silent. Pretty much everything that needed to be said had pretty much already been told back at the training grounds. After Lawrence stored his firearms back into his room, Angel leaned by the doorframe, just about as ready to leave as a girl can be.

[color=9e0039]“"Well, thanks again for the training. Really did learn a lot back there. I guess I will be leaving you to your occupations then."[/color]

Angélique slipped off nonchalantly from the door frame and gave a fidgety hand wave as departure. She suddenly brought herself to a stop half-way out of the door frame before trailing off.

[color=9e0039]“"Oh, I doubt you'd really need to this coming from a newbie, but if you need anything, my room's at door 300. "[/color]