Being restricted to quarters is boring. After two days I’m already restless and jonesing for a workout. That’s not something I’d ever thought I’d say, but after 18 months of intense workout routines, I miss the motion and the effort. Marcella laughed at me and said that the medic told me explicitly: no work outs above range of motion and stretching. She did give me another regenerative and Bell has been the most doting and caring person I could hope to have with me. However, this much attention makes me uncomfortable and I think my reluctance is wearing on her already.

“Kimber, we have a checkup with the medic tomorrow before lunch. We need it to go well so stop whining and don’t do anything to overtax that regenerative. After that, you have three days to pass your pistol practical. Two days later you’ll be staying in a training barracks for enforcers and that direction of specialists. In three months, I’ll be stealing you for meals for our research project. Six weeks before your birthday, we go see Danielle.”

“Ah, about that. My birthday is actually like ten days before what they have on record.” Bell turns to glare at me and Marcella just raises an eyebrow. “I wasn’t really present when the Orphanage took me in. When I realized that the date was wrong by a week or so, I didn’t see the big deal. When I was told that we were part of this exchange thing, I thought the difference was a good idea if I thought you all would force me into a track. Of course, when I found out tracks are gained at level three, then the date itself didn’t matter anymore. Until now, when we’re trying something wacky for my initialization.”

“Huh, not terrible logic as far as it goes, but glad you said something now. I would have been very angry if you popped ten days earlier while feeding you aether.”

“You just want to impress Danielle.”

“Of course I do! She only agreed to give me a third chance if you have nice things to say about me and you perform well.”

“Pfft, you are so screwed.” We’re both chuckling at this point, which still stings a little for me.

Bell, tired of being ignored comes over and flicks me on the nose. “I’m grumpy that you didn’t tell me before we celebrated your fake birthday last year. But we still celebrated you, so . . . just don’t do it again okay? It hurts when you keep things from me.”

“You know that’s going to be part of both of our jobs soon, right?”

“You know what I mean, Kimber. Don’t try to defeat my feelings with logic.”

I chuckle at the adorable pout and pull her in for a hug. “Is Belle going to be staying with you when I leave?”

We both look over to Marcella, “Afraid not kids. I’ll be hanging around the barracks, and since you can absolutely not stay there, your Mentor is arranging a separate room near the other pre-initialized. Believe it or not, it should be a good opportunity for you, Belle. Staying isolated with us wasn’t the best for your training.”

“It was fine, but also very important for me.” She says, squeezing my leg.

“Me too.” I beam at her. “I couldn’t have gotten this far without you. Without either of you. So thanks.” Bell and Marcella blush at that and I feel like I am very much winning.

“Thank me by passing your pistol qual.”

“Gah, no ‘good job’ for starting to learn Chinese. No ‘well done’ for beating your score for the drug dealing game.”

“I’ll give you praise if you beat my scores on those games.” Belle chimes in.

“No chance. You are way smarter than me. Marcella’s just more experienced.”

“Hey! Listen here you little shit. The intimidation and ‘wig out’ mechanics don’t work as well in the game as they do in the real world!”

“Pfft, you’ll be crying about it until you’re a cybernetic granny. In two years, when I’m a hot commodity, you’ll be claiming you deserve all the credit for the support you gave me.” I wait until her faces screws up to yell at me then interrupt. “And you’ll be right. I’ll owe you and Belle everything. All this before trying to give me a magical boost.”

“Stop it Kimber, you’re going to make my fierce warrior eyes leak.” Belle and I smile at my mentor and found sister. The super sappy, bad ass infiltrator. She walks up and thumbs a caramel in my mouth. “That was really emotionally mature of you. Good job. Kimber” She ruffles my hair as a flood of happiness and embarrassment roll through me.

It really did not take long for that trick to work on me. Not having much in the way of praise for most of my life, turns out I really like it. I’m alarmed somewhat that people can be trained like dogs, but that too is information that I will file away for future use.

“With gooey emotion out of the way, my friend that was training you, before Parker abducted you, sent some manuals that you should try to memorize. I picked these, because Belle might have some insight as she’s training on how to relieve PTSD, but she also has to gain trust. Look at the books and see if you can think of ways your training programs overlap, but oppose in direction.”

Marcella heads over to my old suite, and then a few minutes later the outer door closes, signaling that she’s out for the afternoon. Bell sits on the bed and lays her head on my shoulder.

“What am I going to do when I can’t see you everyday?”

“Be awesome? Like every other moment of your life?” She pinches me, but giggles at my praise. “Seriously Belle, we’ll text. I probably won’t have access save evenings, but it can still be our lifeline. Though I like how you’re assuming I pass my pistol qualification.”

“I’ve always believed in you silly. Even at the Orphanage when I didn’t know you as well. I was afraid of you, but I always knew you had an eye out for the younger kids.” I nod at that. I knew I was frightening the kids too, but it’s good that they at least knew I had their back. Bell would know, she was basically their mother.

“I saw how you were with the grubs when we went back to Old Vegas. You must be glad that you get to go and visit Gen Pop after just hanging with me for more than a year.”

“I think so? I’m terrified that our . . . relationship will change but, I think both environments will give me confidence in my future. I have always been terrified that a home life would be mutually exclusive of a work life, but living with you and Marcella has given me some confidence.”

“I’m glad I could help you out for once.”

“Don’t say that. While I appreciate how giving you’ve been the last couple of months, that’s not why I do it. I’m not only here for you, but I’m super into you. You’re also the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“Believe it or not, I can safely say the same. I know you don’t like it when I bring Jamie up, but since I’ve spent so much time with you, and your chill and comforting vibes, I don’t feel as much pressure to do something or be something for you, besides what I want to do because I appreciate you.”

Her face vacillates between smiling and crying just before she kisses me. “That was exactly the right thing to say. You’re getting much better at expressing yourself.” She pulls away and sneaks me a candy. The rush of pride and appreciation floods me and I feel a comfy buzz in my belly and mind.

We flop down onto the bed and she adjusts to lie on my unwounded side and we lay there for an hour, just chatting about random things about this facility, the weird people we’ve seen, and then games that we’ve played.

“Oh hey, do you still play that auto chess game, where you have team-up units and stuff that just go after you place them?”

“Not as much as I used to? Maintaining my rating only takes a few games a week. Why, did it recently pop on your list?”

I nod at that, “and I could really use some coaching? Maxing my powerful units isn’t working out.”

“Oh, honey, you can’t ignore the synergies. The team-up bonuses for the different units are probably the most important part of the game.” I pout at her and plead. “Okay, I can coach you, but you’re hooking up your phone to the TV so we can snuggle and play.”

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“Deal!” I exclaim.

***

“Novarro. This qualification round consists of 40 rounds on paper, ten each for standing and kneeling unholstered fire. Ten for standing two-shot holster draw, and ten for kneeling 1-shot quick draw. You only get 40 rounds, save duds or other malfunctions, and the first three sections have a minute each to get all 10 rounds out. For quick draw, you have five seconds per draw from the point you put your hand on the weapon.

“The second stage is a five mag, thirty shot course scored with contacts on steel targets. Time stops when you finish or when you run out of mags. Do you understand the requirements of this exam?”

“I do Instructor Kenneck.”

“Then check your mags, step up to the line and the first timer will start when you load your first mag.”

I huff a deep breath and do a couple of deep breaths to focus my thoughts and walk through the first timer. Draw easy, three rounds, close to chest and rest, two rounds, close to chest, one offs to finish. Extension fatigue is a thing, and there are ten extra seconds to do each of the first three target rounds.

I load and aim and pop, level, pop, level, sway pop, pull in. Breath and breath, level, pop, level, sway, pop, chest. Breath, level sway, pop, level, sway, pop, chest. Breath, level, pop. Breath, sway, pop. Chest, breath, level, sway, pop.

“You had 12 seconds remaining. Use all of the time.” He says in admonishment. I Iook out to see my one-offs are in the eight area.

“You have up to two minutes between targets. Your next target begins with time or when you load and lay your hand on your weapon. This is your second standing target.”

The order of fire is different that the intro? Interesting. I should not rest with the weapon out. I should two shot, return quickly then rest. I can rest on the last two draws if I have to. I take the two minutes, popping a bar into my mouth and chewing as I mentally prepare. I load, rack, place on safe and holster the gun.

With a few seconds left I widen my stance and draw. The hardest part of this round is that you get one heavy trigger and one light trigger and have to do it all over again—cocking the hammer back before a trigger pull is a big no-no. Nines, eights and a seven or two greet me from that target. I need to make up some points in kneeling.

I take as much of the two minutes as I can, take a swig of water and an energy chew.

“The next two targets will be from a kneeling position. For the normal fire, you will start standing, kneel and draw. After the first draw you may remain kneeling until you re-holster the weapon. The timing on this target begins as soon as you move toward a kneeling position.”

I move up to the line, load and rack my weapon, safe and holster too. I take a few breaths and kneel back into a forward lean on my torso and draw. Two pops, rest on my knee. Continue until the last two shots are one offs as my arms are getting tired. The slide locks back, I eject the mag and I stand to make the weapon safe and re-holster.

After my two minutes, Kenneck explains that the quick draw is different, since I will be timed from the point I put my hand on the weapon, I will be required to drop in from a standing position each time. This goes mediocre at best. I get a lucky nine, but the rest are sevens and sixes. The extra motion for no reason spun me up a little and I didn’t have time to pop a chew. Actually I did. Damnit!!

“You have ten minutes before you must start the course. During the course you will have a series of barriers you will have to shoot from either standing, kneeling, or prone. The barrier will have markings to tell you which position you will fire from. Each steel you shoot has to be hit twice before moving on. Combat reloads are up to you to time. To qualify you need to finish the course. To pass with the ability to move on to advanced training, you need to finish in less than five minutes.

Ten minutes seems like a long time, but when you’re running through the positions I’ve memorized it flies by. By the end I’m spun up and don’t know if I can handle the noise. Again. I look up to my trainer, and while he’s not allowed to coach me, he is taking exaggerated breaths, reminding me to do the same. I hand full of breaths and with time running out I remember how much the candy worked earlier and the time I almost clamped up during my escape.

I thumb a caramel like Bell would and a warm shiver resonates through me. The serotonin and all of those ‘good girl’ vibes roll through me. Let’s go be a good girl for Bell. Twenty shots and three positions later, I’m unstable again. I contemplate a few seconds about trying to forcefully squash that feeling, but a snickering Marcella plays back in my mind: ‘combat is a hard time for un-tested tactics’. I nod softly, chew another caramel, to much less effectiveness, but it lets me finish the course.

“Your official time is 4:48, good work Miss Novarro. Congratulations.” I jump around and spin like an excited child, glad that my weapon is safe and holstered after Kenneck comes out and coughs loudly at me. “Your average target score was well into marksman, and your course was sufficient should you ever want to come back for advanced training. You have my recommendation for the Enforcers course.”

I leap at him with a hug, and though briefly terrified, he accepts it with a chuckle, a pat, and then pushes me away. “Enough of that girlie. People might think I’m not treating you fairly.”

“Heh, not you Kenneck. You’re a calibrated scale. Equanimity is all you know.”

“Bah, I’ll not be influenced by praise. You get and tell your trainer to message me.” I nod and walk back to the line to make my weapon safe and return it. They sentence me to stuffing mags for thirty minutes, but that’s not so bad after I qualified!

I’m in a great mood as I walk back toward the elevators. I punch the button and start dancing in excitement again. The elevator pings and I start bouncing again when a heavy caliber hits my shoulder and punches me into the elevator. I scramble behind the console to avoid future bullets, and one grazes my leg with a rip and peel, bit otherwise I’ll live. I crawl up to hit the floor button and the doors immediately start closing. The tap tap of someone running to the elevator is rapid, so I roll over, collect a knife and use all of the tension and fear in my body to accelerate my throw and thrash It forward. The elevator doors shut fully. I don’t see the resolution of my throw.

Guess Marcella was right. This was the first time I was alone since I escaped and I almost got assassinated again. I stumble and dash in a cycle to get to my suite and throw the locks closed behind me. “Marcella! Bell! I need help!”

Thundering footsteps come from the bathroom and a very naked Marcella is running at me. I turn away and blush.

“Oh shit! You’re shot!? Did it go through?”

“N-no. It still burns.”

“Get into my suite and pull out the surgical kit I have in my bathroom. Take your top off and lie on the table in the living room, I’ll be right there.”

I do as I’m told, and yet again, taking my shirt off sucks. I walk over to her fridge and cabinets and grab a clear liquid and take a swig. Me and the bottle are both set on the table with the medical kit on a chair, waiting for Marcella.

Ten seconds later, she walks in with PJ’s on and determination in her eyes. She takes a swig of the bottle herself, puts it aside and pulls out a small plastic bottle and starts cleaning the area. “Okay, I feel it, but this is going to hurt almost as bad as getting shot, maybe worse.”

“Hells.” I resign myself to the agony. She injects me with some pain killers and starts digging with some calibrated tweezers, or whatever the hell they are. The anesthesia works okay until I feel the vibrations of the metal grabbers touch my scapula—it feels like fingernails across the chalkboard of my soul. I feel her pull something out and I start moving to turn and yell at her, but she pushes me back down to the table.

“One more dive, there’s a piece of shirt in there and I need to find it.” She roots around in my back like a toddler in a toybox. What seems like an hour, and a few soul scrapes later, “Gotcha you fucker!”

Now that I have permission to move, I shout a stream of obscenities and take a deep breath to start again, when Marcella sets the bottle of clear liquid on the floor in front of me and reminds me that there’s a third step to all of this. “I’m so glad you were here instead of Bell. I wouldn’t want to have her dig in my back.”

“And it’s better for me?!”

“Yes! You’ve cut people open before. So have I. Plus, she’s so wholesome. I want to save her the pain.” I take a swig of the clear liquid.

“Are you drunk already? You need to stop, or it’ll mess with your healing. I forget how small you are, even though you added like half a person in weight.” I feel some poking and tugging back there, but nothing near as bad as digging in the wound.

I take another swig as I feel the punctures start to hurt again.

“I said stop, you delinquent.”

“Fiiiine, literal buzz kill.” I put it on the floor and grab for a candy, but I end up just patting the bottom of the table.

“You are such a brat. I’m here, giving you the best medical attention this floor of the hotel can provide and what thanks do I get?”

“I thanked you!” I turn to glare at her, but she forces me down again. This time she climbs on the table and sits on me, flopping her legs over my arms, which means she’s sewing between her legs. She’s really capable and I’m lucky to have her as my mentor.

“Hey Kimber, did you fling some knives at someone after you got shot?”

“Oh yeah! I was coming back from the range, so of course I had my knives with me. The bullet made me spin, and the pain made my brain growl ‘how dare you!’ so I flung ‘em good.” I feel her chuckling on my back.

“Yes you did. A random patrol found your attacker, they didn’t make it far before passing out from blood loss and died before they could get medical attention. I can’t believe what a trouble magnet you are, but you are likely going to be a great asset to the Organization.”

“I wanna be able to punish really bad people. Make it so the rest of them can just live. You know?”

More chuckling on my back, “That is certainly a goal. You do work for a criminal enterprise though.”

“I do! And so does Belle! Isn’t that crazy?!” It really is odd that someone like my incredibly kind girlfriend is working here. Did we have a choice though? This is what I wanted, but I don’t know if Belle did. I miss her. I need to get a picture of her on my phone.

“Done! I’m going to clean you up then toss you in bed. I’ll talk to Belle yah?”

“Tell her that I think she’s amazing!” I can hear her laughing at me.

“I like knowing that this part of you is alive somewhere under all of that rage and determination.”

Even though I know part of it’s an insult to my current personality, it makes me happy that she believes in me. I also feel really sleepy and decide that wherever I am is the perfect place to sleep.