Almost there.Sprint.
She was confident in her speed and it took her past the next set of bolt-firing traps cleanly. Drawing her main one-handed crossbow from the clip at the small of her back, one shot fired. Bullseye. A dive, a commando roll and back into sprint. Two shots fired. Bullseye.
Don't think... feel.Up the slope of the balance beam she went. The traps did not allow her to slow down. The beam took her high up. She would not allow herself to waver. The third and fourth target forced her left hand to draw the crossbow on her right hip, the weaker weapon joining her primary weapon in dual wield action. Double bullseye.
Input from the senses are your commands. Let your instincts move your body.Triple pirouette - an old ballet motion. As simple in practice as it was on the precarious balance beam. How far her balance and agility had come. She danced through the first half of the swinging weights like a blue breeze, her azure cape whirling with her. The second half, the traps fired off again. She fell forward off the beam. Not by accident. Her magical grapplehook fired, the Ranger defying gravity, swinging under and around, up and back onto the beam, clearing the second half of the swinging weights.
Reloading dual crossbows was undoubtedly the hard part. Especially whilst running along the beam. She cheated.
Blue flames danced on her hands and up her arms as she activated her
Deadly Flurry. Using her practiced Long Jump technique, she lept forward off the end of the beam, into the air, tossed a handful of bolts in front of her as she sailed, and in a blur of godspeed handmovements; one, two, three, four, five, six bolts hit the bullseyes of six moving targets. The traps firing back stood no chance.
She landed and launched back into a sprint to the finish line, concluding the course. Her breathing was heavy as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Septimus deactivated the training ground, allowing her to walk back to the beginning and start another training course. She headed inside, about to ask if, in Septimus' opinion, she might be able to handle a Platinum difficulty, but the applause of another figure her sharp eyes hadn't even noticed was what drew her attention.
"Well, that was certainly a show there! The rumors weren't kidding about the Second Chance folk." Whilst taken aback by the sudden appearance of the woman, MacKensie still managed to put on an air of humility and smile at the praise. "But honestly..." the older woman shrugged. "I'm not here to see the fancy shooting skills. MacKensie, right?"
"Yes. How do you do?""You're not from around here, are you? Or I guess I should say, from this
world."
And that's when it hit her. That accent. Not nearly as thick as Clive Michel. Not quite as noticeable as even Adam Philips. But most assuredly, undeniably American. It left her speechless for a moment.
There is another. But...?How? Who knows. Who cared. A new, more heartfelt smile spread across her face and she opened her mouth to speak, not quite sure what to say.
"I..." she blinked thrice as she struggled for words.
"Yes... I mean... no - No, I am not." A soft snort of a one-note laugh left her as she took in the full visage of the woman, her casual demeanour and cool expression.
"Nor are you!" It came out louder than she intended, her excitement clear as she took a step closer to the woman.
"How...? When...?" So many questions, all falling out at once.
"Are there more of you?"Septimus the Soundless, nothing if not consistent, was unimpressed, uncaring and abrupt as he shut down the computer and walked off. "I'll leave you two to your little reunion," he said dryly.
MacKensie spared him a brief glance before turning excitedly back to the mysterious woman who seemed to know a lot more about MacKensie than MacKensie did her. Subconciously, she noted the roguish clothing that fit right into the backdrop of The Brass Monkey, but she knew not to judge a book by it's cover. Barracker Kassel was proof enough of that.
"How have you been, umm?" She waited for a name before saying,
"You simply must meet the rest of us."Any inquiry as to Second Chance getting to the bottom of the great mystery; Why they were here - MacKensie would admit that they were not doing too well on that front, but they did have some strong leads, aswell as a Source Comm message that the woman would be better off reading herself. However, she would, if pressed further, endevour to explain all that she could.
