To Kill a God, Chapter 1: Chimera Tower (IC)

[Nekronia]

Jackie gave a deep inhalation then exhaled to calm himself and resist the urge to do something stupid. He had half-expected this would happen, and sighed. As for the kid being a little psycho? Someone better pick up that phone! I don't understand, what ph- Because I fuckin' CALLED IIIIIIIT~! Oh, hah, I got that joke! It's also a reference. Oh. But hey, close enough. Jackie leaned his head backwards to look at his superior with an upside-down stare, still standing in place. He gave another orange smile, despite wanting to give Karlson one. However, the punk failed to resist a snarky call-back to the specific wording of the rules. "Good morning-afternoon-evening, sir-ma'am. Sir, as for your mention, I was answering Laura's question as to what happened to my arm. I said I had to do push-ups, sir." As he said this, he displayed his right arm for Karlson, a few small bloodsmears still showing on the pale skin of his lean limb. JustAFewMoreMinutesJustAFewMoreMinutesJustAFewMoreMinutes...

[Charmera]

"Alright. Time's up. Let's find the new kids, then go shoot some stuff."

Anthony stood back up, and proceeded to lead the kids to the parking lot, where the two new arrivals were waiting. One, an Indian girl. The other, a smart looking boy with a wild look in his eyes. "Introduce yourselves, newbies." Anthony said, getting the already known kids lined up in a semblance of formation, but mostly they were just a crowd.

Anuragini smiled widely, "Hello, I am Anuragini Rathasharma, I came here with one goal in ming, to meet my father. I do not know if he is here, but I guess this is the end of the line. My familiar is Purinam the Wanderer, we are from New Delhi, India. My hobbies are dancing, making new friends and swordfighting."

---

Conrad stared at the girl, the color slowly draining from his face.
"Oh... shit. This... Is not what I signed up for."

Seeing the girl introduce herself, Thomas supposed he had to too. "Morning... I'm Thomas Bell. I don't really have any hobbies." He wondered when the inevitable jokes would roll in. Considering some of the people here, he'd give it a minute or two. "My Familiar is Herbert Schröder."

"Gutten Tag mein new colleagues." Herbert greeted, though he didn't say much else. Bell guessed he was thinking of dissecting some of the others. Perhaps learning how their powers worked and weaponising them.

Laura

Seeing him kill the butterfly made no change in Laura's expression, but mentally she made a note of it. So he's unhinged too... She thought to herself. She thought back to Jim. You going to be fine with Nolan?

Yes. He looks like him. But thats where the similarities end.

Who is him? What are you talking ab-

Still, it'd be best if we were cautious around Nolan. Jim said in her mind, continuing his train of thought.

She sighed mentally again, watching the two newbies introduce themselves.

[The Templar High Council]

Anuragini smiled widely, "Hello, I am Anuragini Rathasharma, I came here with one goal in ming, to meet my father. I do not know if he is here, but I guess this is the end of the line. My familiar is Purinam the Wanderer, we are from New Deli, India. My hobbies are dancing, making new friends and swordfighting."

---

Conrad stared at the girl, the color slowly draining from his face.
"Oh... shit. This... Is not what I signed up for."

Karlson walked up behind Conrad, slapping him on the back. He smirked at him. "Why yes, it is what you signed up for, whether you like it or not. I'll hear your complaints later, but try not to make too much of a scene right now."

He turned to the girl, "So, you're one of the newcomers, aye? How lovely." He then quickly ran over the rules for the camp, and then had her get in line. "All you older recruits can introduce yourselves after we test your marksmanship. Until then, keep your shit-holes shut."

"Heheh, alrighty lil froggy, chase the butterfly! Leap for it~!" I'm going to take a wild guess he's rivalling Memoir as a killer, given the state of the heads here and the fact he's running around. Meta, hoooo. He ac- Damn it, I forgot we're in here together. Ignore that. ... The teen stood up and turned to address his peer, looking at his sleeve he forgot to roll back down. "Oh, that." He rolled his eyes, his words tinted with distaste. "Kaaarlson wanted me to do ~*push-ups*~, so I did some push-ups as asked." He gave a toothy grin to show his bloody teeth, his eyes showing mild annoyance at the memory. After flashing the orangish mess in his mouth, he closed his lips and licked a bloody tooth in his mouth, taking in the iron-y flavor. John sighed at the memory again, his irritation starting to come back. He considered elaborating more in that sitting, but found the idea of leaving it up to speculation a much more amusing choice. And thus, he left it at that for the moment, with his right sleeve still rolled up.

Karlson walked up behind Jackie. "And what were you saying about me, wussbag? I don't remember giving you permission to speak either."

Seeing Karlson, Nolan ran up to him giggling. "Hey Chris!!!! Its okeyday, I let them talk!!!"

Karlson turned to the little tyke, smirking. "Oh, if it isn't Nolan. I trust the kiddies treated you with respect?"

The kid smiled. "Yes, and they are my first friends here!!!"

Karlson muttered, "I pity them, then." In a louder voice he said, "Now, Nolan, play nice with them. Balaam's wanting them intact."

The kid frowned. "Das' mean, Chris. Nolan's a good boy. He wouldn't hurt a fly." Just then, the butterfly landed on his shoulder, and he reached over and crushed it in his hands. He started cackling, and singing,
"I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me?
I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee..."

He fell onto the ground, laughing hysterically.

"Sir, how much am I teaching them today? I feel like I could cover half the weapons they should know today, and do the rest tomorrow. Unless you want me to do it all today, but I'm leaving them time if you have something else for them to do. If we're running this how I think we are, 'early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.' Ben Franklin said that, but it's a good idea."

Maiso watched the kids introduce themselves. The kid with the mad doctor looked mad himself, and Maiso thought the Indian girl looked a little cute. At least, she was one of the few girls he'd seen here, and she hadn't gotten herself killed.

[Isle of Lithonia]

Memoir crouched over the small boy, cocking his head, staring with perplexed fascination. "Your eyes are hollow. Where are your eyes hollow? You're brain is like mine, but you don't embrace it. Why not? Do the rats in your ears not dance in happiness?"

Nolan looked up at the Demon, smiling. "Hi Memoir!!! Stop saying such silly things, I get all hurty in the head." He leapt up. "Did you get to play with our new friends yet? I can't wait until Chris let's us go play!!! I've been kinda lonely lately." He made a pouty face, and crossed his arms over his chest.

And then more friends came. Nolan's face broke out in a wide smile, and he started dancing around all the newcomers as he sang,
"Will you be a friend of mine,
Friend of mine, friend of mine?
Will you be a friend of mine
And dance around with me?"

He started giggling, and threw his arms in the air. "Hi!!!! I'm Nolan!!!! Wanna be my friends?"

He then stopped in front of Dana, his eyes searching her face. His eyes suddenly turned purple, and he smiled. He wrapped his arms around her waist, giggling. "Nolan likes you, ma'am. What's your name?"

Karlson smirked. This'll get interesting.

[So, he's already on the hunt to grab women? I'm pleasantly surprised.

Same here, Jess.

Jackie gave a deep inhalation then exhaled to calm himself and resist the urge to do something stupid. He had half-expected this would happen, and sighed. As for the kid being a little psycho? Someone better pick up that phone! I don't understand, what ph- Because I fuckin' CALLED IIIIIIIT~! Oh, hah, I got that joke! It's also a reference. Oh. But hey, close enough. Jackie leaned his head backwards to look at his superior with an upside-down stare, still standing in place. He gave another orange smile, despite wanting to give Karlson one. However, the punk failed to resist a snarky call-back to the specific wording of the rules. "Good morning-afternoon-evening, sir-ma'am. Sir, as for your mention, I was answering Laura's question as to what happened to my arm. I said I had to do push-ups, sir." As he said this, he displayed his right arm for Karlson, a few small bloodsmears still showing on the pale skin of his lean limb. JustAFewMoreMinutesJustAFewMoreMinutesJustAFewMoreMinutes...

Karlson rubbed his temples at the kid's sarcasm. "Listen, jackass, don't pull that kind of shit with me. I'm not in a good mood. So, if you want to be even more bloodied, keep it up."

"Sir, how much am I teaching them today? I feel like I could cover half the weapons they should know today, and do the rest tomorrow. Unless you want me to do it all today, but I'm leaving them time if you have something else for them to do. If we're running this how I think we are, 'early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.' Ben Franklin said that, but it's a good idea."

Maiso watched the kids introduce themselves. The kid with the mad doctor looked mad himself, and Maiso thought the Indian girl looked a little cute. At least, she was one of the few girls he'd seen here, and she hadn't gotten herself killed.

Karlson replied, "I want you to teach them the bare basics for handling a handgun, SMG, and rifle today. Then have them do some quick target practicing to determine how good of a shot they are. Then it's off to their apartments."

[Nature-Spirits]

Nolan looked up at the Demon, smiling. "Hi Memoir!!! Stop saying such silly things, I get all hurty in the head." He leapt up. "Did you get to play with our new friends yet? I can't wait until Chris let's us go play!!! I've been kinda lonely lately." He made a pouty face, and crossed his arms over his chest.

And then more friends came. Nolan's face broke out in a wide smile, and he started dancing around all the newcomers as he sang,
"Will you be a friend of mine,
Friend of mine, friend of mine?
Will you be a friend of mine
And dance around with me?"

He started giggling, and threw his arms in the air. "Hi!!!! I'm Nolan!!!! Wanna be my friends?"

He then stopped in front of Dana, his eyes searching her face. His eyes suddenly turned purple, and he smiled. He wrapped his arms around her waist, giggling. "Nolan likes you, ma'am. What's your name?"

Karlson smirked. This'll get interesting.

So, he's already on the hunt to grab women? I'm pleasantly surprised.

Same here, Jess.

Dana had smiled when she first saw the little boy. He was so damn cute, she could barely stop herself from squealing!

When he came up to her and suddenly hugged her around the waist, she gasped in surprise, but then relaxed into it, placing her hands on his back in an embrace. "I'm Dana. I like you too, Nolan." She blushed. "You're so -- kawaii!" On the last word, her voice went up a pitch, and she grinned.

Be careful, Dana, Bader said in her head. Didn't you see his eyes? They're purple, which means that he's the host to the purple demon. I wouldn't trust him right away if I were you.

Oh, be quiet Bader. Dana's head swam with images of her familiar and this Nolan boy... well... we won't get too graphic....

[The Templar High Council]

Memoir crouched over the small boy, cocking his head, staring with perplexed fascination. "Your eyes are hollow. Where are your eyes hollow? You're brain is like mine, but you don't embrace it. Why not? Do the rats in your ears not dance in happiness?"

Nolan looked up at the Demon, smiling. "Hi Memoir!!! Stop saying such silly things, I get all hurty in the head." He leapt up. "Did you get to play with our new friends yet? I can't wait until Chris let's us go play!!! I've been kinda lonely lately." He made a pouty face, and crossed his arms over his chest.

And then more friends came. Nolan's face broke out in a wide smile, and he started dancing around all the newcomers as he sang,
"Will you be a friend of mine,
Friend of mine, friend of mine?
Will you be a friend of mine
And dance around with me?"

He started giggling, and threw his arms in the air. "Hi!!!! I'm Nolan!!!! Wanna be my friends?"

He then stopped in front of Dana, his eyes searching her face. His eyes suddenly turned purple, and he smiled. He wrapped his arms around her waist, giggling. "Nolan likes you, ma'am. What's your name?"

Karlson smirked. This'll get interesting.

[So, he's already on the hunt to grab women? I'm pleasantly surprised.

Same here, Jess.

Jackie gave a deep inhalation then exhaled to calm himself and resist the urge to do something stupid. He had half-expected this would happen, and sighed. As for the kid being a little psycho? Someone better pick up that phone! I don't understand, what ph- Because I fuckin' CALLED IIIIIIIT~! Oh, hah, I got that joke! It's also a reference. Oh. But hey, close enough. Jackie leaned his head backwards to look at his superior with an upside-down stare, still standing in place. He gave another orange smile, despite wanting to give Karlson one. However, the punk failed to resist a snarky call-back to the specific wording of the rules. "Good morning-afternoon-evening, sir-ma'am. Sir, as for your mention, I was answering Laura's question as to what happened to my arm. I said I had to do push-ups, sir." As he said this, he displayed his right arm for Karlson, a few small bloodsmears still showing on the pale skin of his lean limb. JustAFewMoreMinutesJustAFewMoreMinutesJustAFewMoreMinutes...

Karlson rubbed his temples at the kid's sarcasm. "Listen, jackass, don't pull that kind of shit with me. I'm not in a good mood. So, if you want to be even more bloodied, keep it up."

"Sir, how much am I teaching them today? I feel like I could cover half the weapons they should know today, and do the rest tomorrow. Unless you want me to do it all today, but I'm leaving them time if you have something else for them to do. If we're running this how I think we are, 'early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.' Ben Franklin said that, but it's a good idea."

Maiso watched the kids introduce themselves. The kid with the mad doctor looked mad himself, and Maiso thought the Indian girl looked a little cute. At least, she was one of the few girls he'd seen here, and she hadn't gotten herself killed.

Karlson replied, "I want you to teach them the bare basics for handling a handgun, SMG, and rifle today. Then have them do some quick target practicing to determine how good of a shot they are. Then it's off to their apartments."

"Yessir. Come on then, recruits. Time to let loose." Tony cracked his neck, and herded the kids onto the range. They stood along the open area, with a Beretta M9 for each and every child.

"Congratulations! All of you children are now before one of the most reliable modern handguns in the world: the Baretta M9. Right now, as you can see, it is unloaded and uncocked. Your first task is to make it ready to shoot. I'm starting with this since I'm unsure of what experience you all have with guns, so pass this test and you can shoot."

(A handgun skill of at least 1 is required. Don't fuck this up.)

Maiso entered the shooting range, received his orders, and deftly loaded the handgun, cocked it, and flipped it to safe. "Real hard. Let's move on to the shooting."

"Negative. Let's just be sure everyone can do it."

[Isle of Lithonia]

Dana had smiled when she first saw the little boy. He was so damn cute, she could barely stop herself from squealing!

When he came up to her and suddenly hugged her around the waist, she gasped in surprise, but then relaxed into it, placing her hands on his back in an embrace. "I'm Dana. I like you too, Nolan." She blushed. "You're so -- kawaii!" On the last word, her voice went up a pitch, and she grinned.

Be careful, Dana, Bader said in her head. Didn't you see his eyes? They're purple, which means that he's the host to the purple demon. I wouldn't trust him right away if I were you.

Oh, be quiet Bader. Dana's head swam with images of her familiar and this Nolan boy... well... we won't get too graphic....

Nolan smirked internally. Lily?

The tiny Succubus' voice rang in his head. Yes, Love?

She's to be our first playmate. Could you prepare her a bit?

The Demoness' laughter echoed through his mind. Of course, Nolan.

Lily's energy flowed through the hands of her host and into Dana's bloodstream. Small adjustments were made to Dana's hormonal levels, increasing her desire just enough to make her really want that little boy in front of her.

There, all better. She'll be ours to play with now.

Nolan giggled aloud, resting his head on Dana's hips. If only we could play right now.

"Yessir. Come on then, recruits. Time to let loose." Tony cracked his neck, and herded the kids onto the range. They stood along the open area, with a Beretta M9 for each and every child.

"Congratulations! All of you children are now before one of the most reliable modern handguns in the world: the Baretta M9. Right now, as you can see, it is unloaded and uncocked. Your first task is to make it ready to shoot. I'm starting with this since I'm unsure of what experience you all have with guns, so pass this test and you can shoot."

(A handgun skill of at least 1 is required. Don't fuck this up.)

Maiso entered the shooting range, received his orders, and deftly loaded the handgun, cocked it, and flipped it to safe. "Real hard. Let's move on to the shooting."

"Negative. Let's just be sure everyone can do it."

Karlson sat back, watching to see if any of the kids would fuck up such an easy task.

[Nature-Spirits]

Dana had smiled when she first saw the little boy. He was so damn cute, she could barely stop herself from squealing!

When he came up to her and suddenly hugged her around the waist, she gasped in surprise, but then relaxed into it, placing her hands on his back in an embrace. "I'm Dana. I like you too, Nolan." She blushed. "You're so -- kawaii!" On the last word, her voice went up a pitch, and she grinned.

Be careful, Dana, Bader said in her head. Didn't you see his eyes? They're purple, which means that he's the host to the purple demon. I wouldn't trust him right away if I were you.

Oh, be quiet Bader. Dana's head swam with images of her familiar and this Nolan boy... well... we won't get too graphic....

Nolan smirked internally. Lily?

The tiny Succubus' voice rang in his head. Yes, Love?

She's to be our first playmate. Could you prepare her a bit?

The Demoness' laughter echoed through his mind. Of course, Nolan.

Lily's energy flowed through the hands of her host and into Dana's bloodstream. Small adjustments were made to Dana's hormonal levels, increasing her desire just enough to make her really want that little boy in front of her.

There, all better. She'll be ours to play with now.

Nolan giggled aloud, resting his head on Dana's hips. If only we could play right now.

Dana could feel her heart race, and her breath quickened just slightly. She looked again at Nolan, and this time, he was -- somehow -- even more cute than before. For some reason, she felt the same way she did when she was lost in the depths of one of her shotacon mangas, and this boy.... She needed him, craved him. She almost leaned over and kissed him right there, but a combination of the knowledge that such a thing would probably be punished and Bader mentally screaming at her not to stopped the girl.

What the fuck are you doing? demanded her familiar harshly. 7araam! 7araam! Hadhaa 7araam, yaa sharmuu6a!

Oh, Bader, it's not that bad. After all, he's just so cute!

However, then they were herded off to the firing range, so Dana had to let go of Nolan for now. She stole a surreptitious glance over at the boy as she followed Corbin, then listened to what the man had to say.

Ok, so from now on I'm gonna be indicating long vowels, fyi (I wasn't before).
So, you're probably wondering why I have numbers in the words (unless you don't give a shit and just skipped over all that, which is understandable). Read this if you want, which explains everything. But basically, they represent sounds that can't accurately be written with our alphabet, simply because we don't have enough letters.
7araam = sin, forbidden, taboo; it's used somewhat frequently to tell people that they shouldn't do something
hadhaa = this; therefore, hadhaa 7araam =~ "this is sinful"
yaa (again) = vocative particle, used to indicate that the next word or name refers to the addressee
sharmuu6a = wh*re, bitch
So the whole thing together: "Sin! Sin! This is a sin, you whore!"

"Yessir. Come on then, recruits. Time to let loose." Tony cracked his neck, and herded the kids onto the range. They stood along the open area, with a Beretta M9 for each and every child.

"Congratulations! All of you children are now before one of the most reliable modern handguns in the world: the Baretta M9. Right now, as you can see, it is unloaded and uncocked. Your first task is to make it ready to shoot. I'm starting with this since I'm unsure of what experience you all have with guns, so pass this test and you can shoot."

(A handgun skill of at least 1 is required. Don't fuck this up.)

Maiso entered the shooting range, received his orders, and deftly loaded the handgun, cocked it, and flipped it to safe. "Real hard. Let's move on to the shooting."

"Negative. Let's just be sure everyone can do it."

Dana picked up the handgun and managed to load the gun in only a few seconds, with Bader (who by now had had a chance to cool off a little, but was still unhappy with both his host and Nolan) helpfully identifying the parts of the gun for her, which she shelved in her head for later reference.

---

Sander listened to what Corbin said, and, though somewhat unsure of himself, he enthusiastically picked up his gun and managed to complete the task in about 5 seconds. Did I do it right? he asked Stephanie in his head, and she gave off a wordless sense of approval, allowing him to relax somewhat, knowing that he hadn't totally fucked up; after all, he knew that while the demon definitely wasn't the most accomplished with such weapons, she was familiar at least with older firearms, and probably would have been able to tell if something had been seriously off.

[Nekronia]

Are you EVER in a good mood, Urist McFucksky? Sigh, bloody. Blahd blahd blahd erry day. Whatever. Was... was that directed at me? Damn it, not again. No, it wasn't. Thinking to myself. Oh. Well, you shouldn't say things like that about your superiors anyways, it's not proper. He's here trying to help you. Yeah yeah, I know. Doesn't mean I have to like him. *sigh* The young jackass rotated around to look at Captain Karlson normally, an odd look on his face as though he was up to something. Contrasting with his look and usual behavior, he actually stated his short reply obediently and, well, normally. Not frivolously, let's go with that. Giving a "Yessir", Jackie nodded politely and noticed he had to enter and did so. Something isn't right. What are you planning? Showing Karlson what-for. Just waiting until I get a gun... heh heh. JOHN PLEASE D- Calm DOOOOWN, mate. I'm not going to shoot him. Well, at least not at the moment. Also, don't call me John. Then what ARE you planning? A party. Wh- Just feed me over your firearm knowledge. You'll see~ Walter delivered the requested knowledge, still curious of what Jackie was planning.

Meanwhile, the teen walked over, tossed the handgun and magazine over to himself via telekinesis nonchalantly, and sized up the weight of each, taking careful note. Okay, now put th- Done this a million times. I can do this with one hand behind my back. Please don't. Watch me~! The punk put both items in his right hand and put his left behind his back in a fist, and got ready. He held onto the gun and loosened grip on the magazine, then raised his knee up. He balanced the ammunition on his knee, then put the pistol down onto it. He cocked it with his teeth, and flipped on the safety. Once he was all done, he had the slightest look of confidence over performing such a simple task extravagantly. Then he tried to lick off the blood smears (bloody mouth, remember?) on the pistol in a somewhat-seductive manner, snickering in his thoughts so the superiors wouldn't hear it. Weirdo.

[Mnar Secundus]

Clarence was vaguely amused, despite his nervousness. We're really starting from the ground up, aren't we. He picked up the Beretta - and what was that about this being one of the most reliable handguns in the world? That's highly controversial, to say the least - and did as he was told without looking at it, trying to stay focused on the crazy little boy, trying to be as absent-minded as possible, trying to not even acknowledge that there was a gun in his hand. It was already almost too much for him. This is going to be a problem. If he snapped here, he would probaby kill someone, and while that wouldn't be as much of a problem as elsewhere, it would still hurt the victim. "Boali, if it happens, knock me out telepathically, please."
The little girl answered hesitatingly: "I don't know if I'll be able to ... Your mind in that state is ... quite strong, you know."
"Just try your best, then."
"Yes, I will."
Of course, readying the gun didn't offer any kind of problem. Clarence loaded it, cocked it and flipped the safety on in a few seconds, then put it down before him as fast as possible, as if he had been handling a snake. Then he stood with his hands carefully locked behind his back, awaiting further instructions.

[Charmera]

Laura picked up the handgun, the pistol fitting like a glove. It felt familiar, like an old friend or a previous home. Obviously some of Jim's memories were leaking with her own. Even without her familiar she would be able to do this. She loaded the handgun and cocked it with two fast, fluid motions, quick and efficient, then flipped the safety. She understood the gun was definitely not something to fool around with, keeping her finger off the trigger itself and on the trigger guard.

She looked over to Clarence, seeing his reaction to the gun. She could tell he had an aversion to holding the weapon, yet was very competent in its preparation. Obviously that weapon stored some fear or bad memory. She realised Jim had noticed this too.

It would be best not to pry for now.

Still, keep an eye on him. He may become a liability, one way or another. Jim replied.

Laura was unsure what Jim meant, but it was a little odd. Perhaps she should keep an eye on him...

Jack picked up the gun, feeling its weight and the feel of holding a gun. It wasn't unfamiliar, in fact he had held a gun just before he made his way to Chimera Tower. It wasn't familiar either, Jack preferring his knife to a gun. He could wield one though. He took a little longer in the loading and cocking of the gun, then flipped the safety.

Thomas walked over to the gun, only familiar with the weapon on a theoretical level. He knew the steps for preparing the weapon to fire, and executed them carefully. It felt oddly heavy, part of that weight the responsibility of wielding the weapon. The choice of life and death. To an aspiring scientist and a doctors son, that choice would weigh heavily. He may soon have such a choice on a larger scale…

Though, he was sure his familiar didn't agree. In fact Herbert was already thinking of ways one could make the gun more efficient.

Considering the limited facilities, he would have to be a little more creative. He had never fully explored the properties of Demon blood, so there could be a starting point tonight or tomorrow.

Miranda saw Marcus observe the weapon oddly, as if some sort of alien device. Miranda on the other hand was at least familiar with the weapon, loading it and cocking it. However she was a little sloppy, not used to guns.

[Achidyemay]

Conor's Godmother had never allowed for guns anywhere around her and passed on the mantra that guns were "terrible, terrible, dreadful things", so Conor had grown up in a severely anti-gun environment. Even so, he had learned about some guns when he would go over to a friends house to play video games on those rare occasions he wasn't helping the needy, praying with the church, or generally being a goody-two-shoes. Conor didn't really rely on these memories. Conor's father had a gun, but he had never actually done much with it. That didn't stop him from getting upset whenever his second amendment rights were "infringed" upon. Instead he drew upon the time he had hosted a gathering of sorts at the pier and one of the older men, an ex-convict, had somehow managed to get a hold of a gun. The man seemed very proud of it and after the party had riled down from its meet-and-greet level of excitement, Conor proceeded to strike up a conversation. It was during this conversation that Conor actually saw a handgun in real life for the first time. With some prying the man to taught him how it worked, among other things...

Knowing how to operate that handgun, however, barely applied to this, somewhat different, handgun. Even so, he managed to figure out what the magazine was, where it went in the gun and how to load it, he had to look around at what everyone else was doing before he figured out how to cock it (where is the hammer? Oh you just pull the entire top back? Oh, Ok). He flipped the safety down and on and set the gun down, his face had stayed placid the entire time and even Pouton was looking disinterested.

[Hetland 2]

Memoir saw what happened between Nolan and Dana and growled, storming over and grabbing him by the throat lifting him up with ease raising the hatchet up in the other hand. "I saw what you did Nolan. Take what you did out of her, right now, before I strangle the life out of you, Nolan. I know you had Lily hormones altered. Her pupil dialiation, body language, everything points to a sudden attraction with you. And not the motherly affection that you normally spawn, this is clearly sexual arousal. Karlson may like you, but remember this, I know what you are doing, you dirty, bastard rat-spawn." Memoir dropped Nolan, recoiling back screaming, his nails digging into his face, as his clear vision in the world, melded back into his insane vision.

---

Anuragini and Purnima fused together, and she picked up the handgun, checking the weight in her hand she held it by the grip, keeping her finger off the trigger, staring into the barrel. "My father taught my mother to use most types of handguns so she could defend herself." She then examined the clip, pulling out the bullets one by one, feeling the weights in her hand. She remembered a conversation she had with her mother, about her father.
"Your father always had a gun at his side," her mother said, "but I only saw him use it once. We were walking along the canal of my village, when a man jumped out with a pistol. There had been murders in the village, all women my age, all of whom had lovers. The man fired but your father, moving faster than I could see, jumped in the way, sheilding me from the bullet. I'll never forget the look on his face as he towered over me, holding me tightly asking me if I'd been hurt. The man shot three times. Each time, your father's body blocked a bullet meant for me. After the man stopped shooting, your father let out this primal roar, and turned, keeping me behind him, and in a moment, had fired three shots in return. One to the heart and two in the gut. He stomped over to the man and shouted, 'NO ONE FUCKS WITH MY BIRD!' and then he kicked the assassin into the canal."
She calmly slid the clip into the gun checking the weight again. Secretly hoping that wherever her father was he was watching her.
"Purnima remember the weights. I don't want to forget this."
"Such things are below I. I, the wonderful Purnima the wanderer, have already memorized it."
She set the gun down and stepped away from the loaded gun, making sure the safety had remained in locked position.

[The Floating Island of the Sleeping God]

Guns. Krouse wasn't what you would call a gun nut, or even an enthusiast. He voted in favor of gun control and held the idea that no civilian really needed anything more than his few weeks at a shooting range. Jack's knowledge made him far more comfortable with guns, respectful of their power but never afraid. All this being said, Karlson had never been happier to see a gun in his life. Two children had arrived and one of them was terrifying. Memoir had spoken with clarity and authority, which was even worse. But guns? Guns were a cold, hard certainty in the terrifying world he now occupied. Clunk. He slid the magazine into place. Schk. He racked the slide. Click. He flicked the safety on. Another test. He almost hadn't checked for that, because it would be foolish to unload the gun with the safety off, but Jack had insisted. A small test, leaving the safety off, but significant.

[Imperial--japan]

Lavi had never used a gun in her life, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to accomplish the task set upon her by her superiors. Lavi physically trembled at the thought of using this deadly firearm, and after all, firearms killed people. She couldn't be associated with something that killed people, and she didn't know how the others around could stand to merely play along. It was up to her to show everyone how bad guns were!

"I can't use a gun! Guns are bad, and they kill people, and hurt people, and if you get shot you could suffer blood loss....If you didn't know....," Lavi paused to increase the dramatic effect.

"PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED BY BLOOD LOSS!" Lavi exclaimed as though it were the most recent discovery made by human civilization. The optimist nodded her head and assumed veryone would agree with her line of thinking.

"Guns are really bad and we should knock out all of Ira Dei instead! I saw it in one of my cartoons, and I'm sure if we like..snuck up on them we could knock out their leader!" Lavi explained to as many people who would bother to listen.

---

Selena had finished depositing the corpse of the student she left in her trunk in a secure location. Slights to Mr. Balaam weren't taken lightly by her, and his punishment still had a ways to go. The smell of the corpse began to take effect, and Selena was ecstatic to finally be away from the now literal garbage. What was now on the agenda was to head to the firing range, and observe how the students were doing. Even if she wasn't required to, Selena still felt it appropriate to see how her children were faring.

"Hopefully Karlson hasn't killed anyone yet," Selena joked and still oblivious to Raven's death and ressurection. Shutting the metal door behind her, Selena made her way toward the firing range.

[Nekronia]

Jackie stopped 'cleaning' his M9 after listening to Lavi's rant, rolling his eyes. The gun was now close to sparkling with how polished it was, and the guy put the barrel of said loaded gun in his mouth before quickly throwing his head back to mime shooting himself over the stupidity of the hyperactive girl. "Blehk. Firstly and fortunately, this isn't a cartoon, this is demonstrated to be a computer simulation by a fractal eldritch machine. Learn to science. Secondly, this means that you can't do the cartoon routine of 'BONK you're defeated'. Here in meatspace, we go 'BLAM you're defeated'. So the whole point of the bad machine most of us are holding is to hurt people and make them die. Well, there's other uses both intended and otherwise, but killing is the designed purpose. Besides, we need to do more than just play capture the flag with zealots' heads, we need to destroy Jehovah's Witnesses and force them to collapse, or even defect if we're lucky."

The jerk gave a small smile as he lifted his gun from pointing downwards to idly pointing straight-up. "There are no goodguys. Just grey ones, and how light they are depends on one's own subjective perspective of their qualities, not some objective alignment meter. That's a weird phrase, 'subjective perspective'. Subjegghive perspek-tiv. Bleh. Say that five times fast, heheh. Anyways, the point is that we need bad things to do bad things to get the goal we perceive as good. A means to an end. An end to the mean." And with that final note, he took a finger off the side of his pistol and pointed it upwards, hinting at Yahovim being the end and the mean. However, given Lavi's behavior so far, there was a good chance of this being wasted breath, and with that thought Jackie sighed.

[The Templar High Council]

Jackie stopped 'cleaning' his M9 after listening to Lavi's rant, rolling his eyes. The gun was now close to sparkling with how polished it was, and the guy put the barrel of said loaded gun in his mouth before quickly throwing his head back to mime shooting himself over the stupidity of the hyperactive girl. "Blehk. Firstly and fortunately, this isn't a cartoon, this is demonstrated to be a computer simulation by a fractal eldritch machine. Learn to science. Secondly, this means that you can't do the cartoon routine of 'BONK you're defeated'. Here in meatspace, we go 'BLAM you're defeated'. So the whole point of the bad machine most of us are holding is to hurt people and make them die. Well, there's other uses both intended and otherwise, but killing is the designed purpose. Besides, we need to do more than just play capture the flag with zealots' heads, we need to destroy Jehovah's Witnesses and force them to collapse, or even defect if we're lucky."

The jerk gave a small smile as he lifted his gun from pointing downwards to idly pointing straight-up. "There are no goodguys. Just grey ones, and how light they are depends on one's own subjective perspective of their qualities, not some objective alignment meter. That's a weird phrase, 'subjective perspective'. Subjegghive perspek-tiv. Bleh. Say that five times fast, heheh. Anyways, the point is that we need bad things to do bad things to get the goal we perceive as good. A means to an end. An end to the mean." And with that final note, he took a finger off the side of his pistol and pointed it upwards, hinting at Yahovim being the end and the mean. However, given Lavi's behavior so far, there was a good chance of this being wasted breath, and with that thought Jackie sighed.

Before Jackie could do anything else so stupid, Anthony was behind him with a large, callused hand on his shoulder. He took the gun from Jackie's hand, ejected the magazine, pulled the slide releasing the already chambered round, and set the gun back down.

"Never do that again. I don't care whether you're goofing around or not, never treat a gun as a toy. You talk big, but your actions don't match. Even if you think your gun is empty, even if you think the safety is on, even if you think you haven't got a round chambered, don't. These will kill you. And I hate to break it to you, but Conrad and I can't bring you back from the dead. And frankly, I don't think the Leiutenant wants you back alive. You aren't shooting today. You can keep practicing your pushups for all I care, but you won't come back here until tomorrow. Think about what you could have done, and never let it happen again."

With that inspiring speech, Anthony pushed Jackie away from the range, at the very least into a corner where he couldn't hurt himself, and walked to the range to direct the kids on their assignment.

"Alright children. Here's how this will work. The targets in front of you are at a distance of 5, 10, and 15 maters, respectively." As he spoke, Anthony pulled a lever on the wall to reveal the targets: human shaped silhouettes, with vital areas marked to assess accuracy. "You will each have three magazines, of 15 rounds each. One magazine for each target. Hit as many rounds as you can with each magazine. You have no time limit, but we will be timing you. Your goal is to shoot quickly and accurately, and hit as many targets as possible. GO!"

(For 5m target: 1 to pass, 2 for perfect.
For 10m target: 2 to pass, 3 for good score, 4 for perfect.
For 15m target, 2 to pass, 4 for good score, 5 for perfect.)

[Nekronia]

Jackie looked at Anthony with an expression as though he couldn't comprehend what had just happened. He dropped his hands to his sides, and actually seemed intimidated for the first time with these people. He nodded his head politely and gave a somewhat-sad "Yessir, sorry sir" before leaning against the corner and running his hand through his hair with a blank expression as he stared at the floor. His stance in general simply screamed 'I fucked up' while he silently leaned there in the corner.

SSSHIT! My whole fuckin' plan was right here. Then someone responsible, leapin' right outta fuckin' left field. Boom, right when I was about to score a grandslam he jumps out and throws that shit to first base before I can even drop the bat. FFFFUCK I FUCKED UP SHITSHITSSSSHIIIIIIIIT You should have thought ab- NO I AM NOT DEALING WITH YOU RIGHT NOW I AM FUCKING DEALING WITH THIS SHIT I DON'T NEED TWO HELPINGS ON ONE PLATE I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH BEFORE IT STARTS OOZING OFF THE SIDES AND STAINS THE NAPKINS I REALLY FUCKED UP HERE. FUUUUCK Well at least let me say that I'm proud that you're learning to re- NO. BVVVRPBVRRRPBVRRRP NOPE NO NOPE NOT DEALING BVVWEERPVWEEERPBVWEEERP *sigh*

[Mnar Secundus]

Clarence almost grinned when that Jackie idiot was sent out to cool his head. He had lost three friends - well, three comrades-in-arms - to training accidents deriving from simple lack of prudence, and he had no patience for such things. Still, smiling in this situation was not only rude but outright impossible for him. The Beretta in his hand felt heavier than if it were made of lead, and it burnt. Clarence knew that it was impossible for the weapon to actually be hot, he knew that if he dropped it and took a look at his hand it would be fine, but he physically felt heat, searing, destructive heat radiating from the weapon's handle deep into his body - and deeper into his mind. He was trembling slightly and sweating profusely. His hands began to shake. This is worse than I expected. Maybe I should ask to be excused ...
Boali interrupted the train of thought that he had accidentally been showing her. "You can't do that. You have to fight this."
"I know, damnit. You're not the one who has to -"
"I am." Boali's mental voice was trembling. "I am the one keeping you together right now. You're doing a part of the effort, of course, but without me you'd have shot Jackie and been killed already."
Clarence was dumbfounded. He'd had no idea. "Oh, damn. I'm sorry, Boali." He pocketed the magazines, strengthened his grip on the handgun, stopped shaking and focused on the targets. "I'll do my best."

He took aim at the closest target and shot twice in close succession: head, then dead center. He was calm and collected, in control. I can do this.
Then something moved behind the targets.

When Clarence regained consciousness, he was lying on his back, aiming at the first target. All three targets were filled with bullets. Everything seemed to be fine, except for his position ... And he was a bit too close, at about two metres from the first target ... And ... Wait, why the hell does the first target have a fork thrust into its neck? As the memories came back to him, he collapsed with a groan.
He had leapt forwards, throwing the fork in his sleeve at the first target and hitting it in the chest. That was a classic distraction maneuver: the fork wouldn't do any damage, but it was intended to startle the first enemy and delay his reaction while Clarence bridged the distance. Hitting the ground, he had rolled sideways, shot once at each of the enemies - hitting all three - and picked up the fork, which had bounced back onto the ground, to jump onto the first enemy - target, goddamnit, those are targets - and jab it into his - its - eye, then into its jugular, then turn the target around and use it as a shield while he shot each other target five times in the chest and head. Then he had quickly snapped the first target's neck, or would have if its neck could have been twisted, and thrown himself back onto the ground, unloading his magazine's two last bullets into the first target's chest. And then he had even taken a second and a half to load a new magazine into his handgun.
The whole operation had taken less than forty-five seconds.
Shit. And it seemed to be going so well. The thing that had moved had been a bird, he saw.
"I'm sorry, Clarence," thought Boali in a small mental voice. "I failed you."
"Don't worry about it." He felt hollow. "It's my fault."

Clarence slowly flipped the safety on his Beretta, unloaded it and put it down, sending it skidding on the ground a couple of metres away, he slowly put his hands on his head, and he slowly stood up. Then he awaited his punishment.

[Charmera]

Thomas had never fired a gun before. Hell, he had never touched one before. He had managed to know how to cock it and load it with common sense, but firing it?

He remembered from somewhere that holding a handgun with only one hand would reduce ones accuracy. It made sense from a physics perspective. The three laws of motion stated-

Shit. Focus, you have to do this.

After a slow start, Thomas held the gun in a stance that made sense to his logical mind (Though he did seem to emphasis safety a little much, holding the gun at a distance from himself), and began firing. Fifteen shots, an acceptable amount hitting the vitals. He knew if this was a person, they would likely be very dead several times over.

Next Target however did not go so smoothly. He managed to get about four in the vitals, further three in the "flesh" of the target, and the rest were misses.

Next Target was worse, and slower, Thomas realising he was screwing up but it was far too late to fix it. Two in the vitals, three more in the non vitals, all the rest misses.

Your not good at this are you? asked Herbert

Shut up…

In total, he managed to complete it in a minute and twenty seconds

---

Jack dealt with the firearm decently, acing the first target with good time, reloading and moving onto the next one. The second was a slight difficulty curve, but he managed to grab a good score, hitting the vital plenty of times. Finally, it came to the third and hardest one, which Jack managed to get an acceptable amount of shots into the vitals. All in all, he was good with handguns, not amazing, but good.

---

Laura moved to her targets with haste, getting to them quickly. The gun in both her hands as she moved. At the first target, she was surprised by how natural her movements were and how much Jim's memories helped (Especially his time in training). It was considerably better than her first attempts this morning, which had gone a long way in helping her refresh herself and unlock Jim's memories. The first range was almost contemptibly easy, able to hit the vitals with no problem. She ejected the clip and plopped another in with quickly, fluid motions. The second was harder, but still she managed to maintain accuracy and a decent fire rate. The final one was, again, more challenging. She still managed to keep her shots in the inner rings. The whole exercise was finished in approximately thirty eight seconds.

Impressive. Could use some improvement though.

He was right, not every shot had made its way to their marks. Celebrating too early would be unwise, considering each and every one of them would have to be extraordinary if they were going to survive their mission.

In summary
Thomas:
1:Pass
2: Fail
3: Fail

Miranda:
1: Pass
2: Fail
3: Fail

Jack:
1: Perfect
2: Good
3: Pass

Laura:
1: Perfect
Perfect
Perfect

[The Floating Island of the Sleeping God]

In the end, everything is numbers. Math. Firing a weapon was just physics and calculus. Force, angles, arcs. Krouse knew this. He held up a hand, two fingers outstretched, and merged with Jack. Krouse could tell you exactly where a bullet would go based on how you fired the gun. Jack knew how to hold the gun, account for recoil, and fire with precision. Together, they were an almost constant stream of data, Jack speaking in his head, "No, boy, center of mass. Head shots are for show offs." Krouse ran the numbers in his mind. We're this a movie, the viewer would see arcs and numbers drawn across every surface, calculating. The two men moved in an orderly manner down the line. 15 bullets, 15 confirmed kills. That was too easy. Give me a challenge. Krouse blinked. That wasn't one of his thoughts. He wasn't arrogant and bold like that. Must be a bit of Jack rubbing off on me. Next target. 10 meters, 15 holes in the target's chest, moving on. He missed three times on the last target. What gIves, Jack? Sorry, Francis. Been too long since I've used one of these. I lost track of the recoil. We did well enough, though. Krouse smiled. I suppose we did. The two unmerged. "Good shooting, Jack. Let's hope you're better with the next weapons."
Results: perfect, perfect, good.

[Achidyemay]

Conor took aim with the gun and breathed out slowly, pausing his breath at halfway. He lined up his arms at the first target, pulled the trigger, and click: nothing happened. Conor flipped the gun over and examined the side. He realized he had left the safety on and re-aligned the shot. Firing off the rounds, several seconds between each shot. Breathe in, breathe out, half-way stop, hold, aim, shoot, breathe in, breathe out, half-way stop... He treated it like a mantra and he was this weapon's newest disciple.
He was halfway through the round when a kid got yelled at and sent to the corner, Conor was indifferent. He had just completed the round when a man had a breakdown in the middle of the range, Conor was indifferent. Conor finished the round with a couple shots to the vitals, a majority to the flesh, a few on-targets, and a few flyers. He waited for a small while for the man to calm down and move out of his way before continuing to the second target where his skills failed him and he only managed to hit the target a handful of times and, in a fluke occurrence, the vitals once. At the last target he failed to even hit the target at all, Conor was indifferent. He set the gun down and backed away from the shooting platform, he started humming one of the songs he learned on the streets, quietly and slowly.

[Hetland 2]

Conrad roared, "Stop shooting for a bleeding minute! There's a bloody chav on the shooting range." He stomped over, "What the fucking fuck do you think you're doing, you daft idiot? That's a live-fire shooting range. If you want to get shot, I can arrange for that, but right now, you're acting like a wannabe commando and we can't deal with that. Go sit out with that Jackie idiot until you can relax. If I catch you doing that again, we're going to have a serious problem."

---

Anuragini paused as the large soldier yelled at the guy who jumped into the shooting range. As that ended, she lowered her gun to eye level, and took aim at the five meter target. Fifteen shots. Fifteen lethal hits.
She pulled out the clip and slapped in the next clip, aiming at the ten meter target. She unloaded into the target, missing a few shots but the shots that did hit would have been lethal.
The fifteen meter target was too far away, so it began to blur out. She fired, getting an average amount of hits.

Anuragini
Round 1: Perfect
Round 2: Good
Round 3: Average

[Isle of Lithonia]

Memoir saw what happened between Nolan and Dana and growled, storming over and grabbing him by the throat lifting him up with ease raising the hatchet up in the other hand. "I saw what you did Nolan. Take what you did out of her, right now, before I strangle the life out of you, Nolan. I know you had Lily hormones altered. Her pupil dialiation, body language, everything points to a sudden attraction with you. And not the motherly affection that you normally spawn, this is clearly sexual arousal. Karlson may like you, but remember this, I know what you are doing, you dirty, bastard rat-spawn." Memoir dropped Nolan, recoiling back screaming, his nails digging into his face, as his clear vision in the world, melded back into his insane vision.

Nolan burst out laughing when Memoir let go of him. "Aww, you're no fun Memoir. But Lily and Nolan can't help playing. Lily is a Succubus and has to play, and Lily is stronger than you. So, we aren't going to stop, meanie."

Then his eyes blazed. "And be nice to Nolan. Lily don't like bullies, and Nolan don't either. So, no bullying, or we will send both you and your host to Hell and back again as many times as we want. Either that or we'll tell White Eyes about you bullying me."

He laughed again, and hopped away, chasing his shadow.

Meanwhile in the range, Karlson sat back watching the kids fire their handguns. Some of them were actually pretty decent (even that near blind Indian did well), others pretty much sucked, one didn't even want to shoot the weapon (which was annoying), one of them (the wussy jackass from earlier) got kicked out for being a jackass (which was highly amusing), one of them went nuts (he wondered about that kid's sanity anyway), and Laura kicked ass (obviously she was a good pick for his personal assassin). Overall, not too bad.

But, he needed to get everyone shooting, including Lavi.

Lavi had never used a gun in her life, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to accomplish the task set upon her by her superiors. Lavi physically trembled at the thought of using this deadly firearm, and after all, firearms killed people. She couldn't be associated with something that killed people, and she didn't know how the others around could stand to merely play along. It was up to her to show everyone how bad guns were!

"I can't use a gun! Guns are bad, and they kill people, and hurt people, and if you get shot you could suffer blood loss....If you didn't know....," Lavi paused to increase the dramatic effect.

"PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED BY BLOOD LOSS!" Lavi exclaimed as though it were the most recent discovery made by human civilization. The optimist nodded her head and assumed veryone would agree with her line of thinking.

"Guns are really bad and we should knock out all of Ira Dei instead! I saw it in one of my cartoons, and I'm sure if we like..snuck up on them we could knock out their leader!" Lavi explained to as many people who would bother to listen.

---

Selena had finished depositing the corpse of the student she left in her trunk in a secure location. Slights to Mr. Balaam weren't taken lightly by her, and his punishment still had a ways to go. The smell of the corpse began to take effect, and Selena was ecstatic to finally be away from the now literal garbage. What was now on the agenda was to head to the firing range, and observe how the students were doing. Even if she wasn't required to, Selena still felt it appropriate to see how her children were faring.

"Hopefully Karlson hasn't killed anyone yet," Selena joked and still oblivious to Raven's death and ressurection. Shutting the metal door behind her, Selena made her way toward the firing range.

Karlson walked over to Lavi with a sigh. For once, he spoke gently and without overt sarcasm (although he was definitely spewing a fuckload of BS). "I understand your concerns, Lavi, and I can respect your hesitance to fire a pistol. I also agree that people do die from blood loss, and thank you for reminding me of that important detail."

He scratched his chin, acting as if he were actually putting thought into this. Then he smiled as if he figured something out. "I've got a solution!!! You know what, Lightheart just made a batch of stun rounds for the M9." He grabbed a couple magazines from behind one of the tables (which Lightheart had just transformed into stun bullets), and held them out for Lavi to grab. "If you shoot these, you can just knock out your enemy instead of kill them. If I let you shoot them today, and kept making these special rounds for you with every firearm you use, would you please finish your target practicing?"

Ok, that was ridiculously degrading to your position. What the fuck are you doing?!

Lightheart, the kid has some potential. She's just...

...got a pile of shit for brains?

Basically. Still, if we can get her to actually put some effort into this, she might make a good soldier.

There's no fucking way that useless bitch is going to make a good fighter.

When Selena entered the range, Karlson nodded at her. "So, how's the dipshit that was stranded in your trunk? Did you dump the body?"

[The Templar High Council]

Clarence almost grinned when that Jackie idiot was sent out to cool his head. He had lost three friends - well, three comrades-in-arms - to training accidents deriving from simple lack of prudence, and he had no patience for such things. Still, smiling in this situation was not only rude but outright impossible for him. The Beretta in his hand felt heavier than if it were made of lead, and it burnt. Clarence knew that it was impossible for the weapon to actually be hot, he knew that if he dropped it and took a look at his hand it would be fine, but he physically felt heat, searing, destructive heat radiating from the weapon's handle deep into his body - and deeper into his mind. He was trembling slightly and sweating profusely. His hands began to shake. This is worse than I expected. Maybe I should ask to be excused ...
Boali interrupted the train of thought that he had accidentally been showing her. "You can't do that. You have to fight this."
"I know, damnit. You're not the one who has to -"
"I am." Boali's mental voice was trembling. "I am the one keeping you together right now. You're doing a part of the effort, of course, but without me you'd have shot Jackie and been killed already."
Clarence was dumbfounded. He'd had no idea. "Oh, damn. I'm sorry, Boali." He pocketed the magazines, strengthened his grip on the handgun, stopped shaking and focused on the targets. "I'll do my best."

He took aim at the closest target and shot twice in close succession: head, then dead center. He was calm and collected, in control. I can do this.
Then something moved behind the targets.

When Clarence regained consciousness, he was lying on his back, aiming at the first target. All three targets were filled with bullets. Everything seemed to be fine, except for his position ... And he was a bit too close, at about two metres from the first target ... And ... Wait, why the hell does the first target have a fork thrust into its neck? As the memories came back to him, he collapsed with a groan.
He had leapt forwards, throwing the fork in his sleeve at the first target and hitting it in the chest. That was a classic distraction maneuver: the fork wouldn't do any damage, but it was intended to startle the first enemy and delay his reaction while Clarence bridged the distance. Hitting the ground, he had rolled sideways, shot once at each of the enemies - hitting all three - and picked up the fork, which had bounced back onto the ground, to jump onto the first enemy - target, goddamnit, those are targets - and jab it into his - its - eye, then into its jugular, then turn the target around and use it as a shield while he shot each other target five times in the chest and head. Then he had quickly snapped the first target's neck, or would have if its neck could have been twisted, and thrown himself back onto the ground, unloading his magazine's two last bullets into the first target's chest. And then he had even taken a second and a half to load a new magazine into his handgun.
The whole operation had taken less than forty-five seconds.
Shit. And it seemed to be going so well. The thing that had moved had been a bird, he saw.
"I'm sorry, Clarence," thought Boali in a small mental voice. "I failed you."
"Don't worry about it." He felt hollow. "It's my fault."

Clarence slowly flipped the safety on his Beretta, unloaded it and put it down, sending it skidding on the ground a couple of metres away, he slowly put his hands on his head, and he slowly stood up. Then he awaited his punishment.

After Conrad put the kid away, Anthony approached him and tried to talk to him. "Kid? I know what Conrad said is right, but where did you learn to do that? I've seen grown men that can't do what you did."

Meanwhile, Maiso took his time getting ready to shoot. When he felt fine, he merged with Fuma and started snapping off shots very quickly. He aced the first target, but that's because it was so close. Dealing with recoil and keeping your shots centered is much harder when you're actually holding the gun. The further targets were not as riddled, but Maiso managed to land a few vital shots. That was enough for him.

"We aren't suited for guns. Just wait and see when they let us fight hand to hand."

"IF they do that. Though I doubt they will allow some of our skills to go to waste." Fuma stared at the handgun as if it were an alien artifact. "I must admit, firearms have become much more prevalent than when I was alive. When I died, it was during the birth of gunpowder."

"Well, I know guns. I have not shot guns, but I know how they work. There's a difference in experience."

"I can tell." Fuma remarked snidely.