My phone buzzed with a message from Molly letting me know she had arrived, so I got off the couch grabbed my backpack then went out to meet her. Molly was in her decade-old Honda civic, wearing a big grin and grey sweats as I opened the passenger door.
“How are you doing Sam, ready for an exciting day?”
“Hi Molly. Depending on how exciting I guess.” I answered while bucking up.
“Well, after lunch is basically just going to be me introducing you to unarmed combat, we probably won’t get into anything exciting just maybe some demos from me on doing things and getting you used to the idea of how to approach not injuring someone while keeping yourself safe.” Then her smile faltered a bit, and she sighed.
“The morning changed since you are a field agent and not just a friend from school though.” She said a bit bitterly, and I was not quite sure what was upsetting her. “Tell me Sam, you ever want to fire a gun before?” She was looking away from me, focusing on driving so she wouldn’t have seen whatever expression was on my face.
“I’ve not really thought about it, like uh I played a lot of shooters, so I won’t say I haven’t…” I said trailing off.
“Well today’s your lucky day, officially when an agent is going to a ‘confrontational’-” She did a one-handed air quote. “Situation we are supposed to have a gun on us under the theory that some of the people we deal with could kill someone before you even blink if things went really bad.”
“Really?” I asked incredulously, not really sure how that fit in Summers’s ethos. “I don’t want to shoot someone, and I thought the idea was helping people.”
“It’s not like I’ve ever had to draw mine on a person.” She responded with a snort. “And I have never had a desire or reason to, but it’s an overhang from when our other agents were almost exclusively baseline and there were some… incidents early on.”
She went quiet for a bit while we idled at an intersection, then started again after she made a turn. “Do you remember that thing in Mississauga like three years ago? The one where twenty people died and a bunch more injured?”
“Yeah, that was a super right? Uh, fire abilities if I remember.”
“Yeah, well this was before my time but the guy who onboarded me, ex-agent now, brought it up when I was asking him the same questions.” She tapped on the wheel a second then continued somberly. “The CRD had dispatched everyone we had locally, at the time some three agents if I remember, and they got there before the woman killed anyone. Negotiations started off ok from the footage we have, she had relaxed a bit and was accepting a hand from the field leader all smiles.”
“Unfortunately, we don’t really know what went wrong next, just that she suddenly turned pissed off and… ignited.” She said then hesitated for a moment. “By the time reinforcements arrived, the woman had killed herself but not before the rampage had run its course, claiming the lives of all three agents, four cops, and a bunch of bystanders, along with unmentionable injuries to the survivors.”
“The field leader was the woman who had helped start the CRD less than a year prior, Summers didn’t take it too well as you can imagine.” She glanced at me quickly then back to the road. “After that, all agents were to have a gun and know how to use it, just in case.”
The car was quiet for a few minutes while I churned over the story.
“I guess that’s understandable,” I admitted. “Can’t say I’m too thrilled though.”
“Good, that means you’re sensible. Only idiots and power-mad fools believe that everything can be solved with a gun.” She snorted out.
“So, for a related question why do we seem so closely associated with the military?” I asked, then elaborated. “Like Colonel Brant or how Summers turned up with the LAVs.”
“That’s because of paranoia, there’s this fear of what happens if there’s some particularly powerful super, changed animal, or now portals to other dimensions.” She explained. “So, we get a Colonel with no troops under her in charge of a base full of civilians and me. Just in case she needs to call in troops who have no idea of what’s going on when it does matter.”
“That time when we picked you up was actually the first time we’ve actually made use of the connection. Mary was pretty pissed at how slow the reaction even with the base essentially being up the road from where you were, I imagine she’s been breathing fire down the neck of the base commander.” She chuckled after finishing the thought.
“So, are you going to be the one teaching me to use a gun?” I asked.
“Nah Mary will, like I said she doesn’t have much to do most of the time and she is way more experienced as an instructor than I am.” She paused as a thought crossed her mind. “Although speaking of having not much to do, that may not always be the case. There hasn’t been anything happening since you were kidnapped but there is a feeling in the department that it’s just a matter of time before there are more attacks.”
“Ok, fuck that topic. Give me a new one.” She declared.
“Uh, have you had a good weekend so far?” I asked not exactly sure what she would be looking for.
“I spent yesterday watching cheesy romance anime with Peter, so yes!” She cheerfully admitted.
Not necessarily what I was expecting, but hey to each’s own.
“Now how about you? I remember you saying you were going to be busy yesterday but didn’t say with what or whom.” She asked with a grin.
“I uh had a date actually.” I admitted.
Oh no, her grin widened, what is she a Cheshire cat?
“Guy, girl, other?” She asked cheerfully.
“Girl, uh someone I know from class.”
“Did you get up to anything steamy?” She chortled at her own pun.
“Uh not really, we went on a nice walk in the park and then worked on cosplay costumes.” I said a little embarrassed.
“Hell yeah nerd shit!” She whooped startling me. “Have fun?”
“Y-yes, it was nice it was mostly her teaching me stuff since I haven’t done any before.”
“I thought you said you weren’t up to anything steamy?” She said with a smirk, causing me to go through confusion, horror, and finally embarrassment.
She rolled with laughter.
“Don’t mind me Sam, I’m glad you had a good day! introduce her to me at some point, I’m sure we could nerd out at my place!” She declared cheerfully.
“Sure, I’ll let her know.” I said with a smile.
----------------------------------------
After guiding me through the confusing halls of the facility to a small lecture hall, Molly bid me fair well and then vanished after a quick hello to Colonel Brant. She was again in casual clothes with some other band shirt I didn’t recognize, not really projecting the image of a military officer.
I have no idea what’s involved in getting a normal license but the first half of this one was pretty much focused on drilling the ideas of firearm safety into me. Keeping it under control, consideration of what was downrange, the persistence of projectiles, etc. After the lecture she had me hold a rubber pistol and demonstrate that I had a grasp of the ideas, I apparently satisfied her given she was happy with moving on. Although for some reason holding the fake gun caused something in my math unit to twitch.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Weird.
The second half was more on the mechanics of using a gun in the practical sense and based on the pistol I would be using most, which turned out to be a SIG Sauer P226. I recognized it from games, but I wasn’t going to mention that, it seemed like a weird subject to bring up. Apparently, the Department got a bunch from the special forces rather than using a Glock like police usually do, I asked why but apparently the answer was ‘politics’.
She discussed its controls, and then showed me a simple pass of a minimal cleaning procedure. Then I was given a thin manual I was expected to keep and review that had more detailed cleaning procedures along with details of its operation. She then spent a while grilling me to make sure I remembered everything and then discussed exactly how I would be permitted to use the gun today.
I would be given an unloaded magazine and the gun, and then go through a dry run of preparing to shoot. If I demonstrated competency, I would then be allowed to fully load the magazine and take a first shot, followed by being allowed to shoot the remaining rounds if she felt secure in doing so. We were just going to be having me shooting today and accuracy would be something we would focus on later.
Neat.
She then guided me down to a pistol shooting range deeper in the facility, stopping on the way to pick up a black case that contained the gun and some hearing protection from the small armory, little more than a broom closet with a heavy lock then a few more locked cabinets inside. Molly was waiting for us at the door to the range and gave us a wave and a wide grin, Colonel Brant stopped to exchange some small chat about her cat of all things with her, which surprised me a bit. Colonel Brant had been crisply professional this time, without any of the incredulity of our first meeting, she hadn’t seemed like one to waste time.
I guess she might still be annoyed at me?
The range was a pretty small affair as far as I could guess, three lanes with a backstop some twenty or twenty-five meters away. One of the lanes had a paper target visible attached to the rail already, so I assumed that was our destination.
Once we got to our lane, Colonel Brant then placed the plastic case on the small table there before pressing a button that caused the target to move further away from us. I would guess it stopped about halfway down the range, but I wasn’t sure. She then stepped back before motioning me to begin, I took a deep breath and then stepped forward.
Opening the case revealed the gun, or I guess my gun, it looked brand new and was cradled in a neat cut out of itself in the foam. There were a few spots for magazines but only one was occupied, similarly there were spots for boxes but only one was filled with a plain grey cardboard box labeled ‘9×19mm, 15 rounds, Issued to: Samantha Woodward’.
I carefully took the pistol out of its cradle, ensuring I was following what Colonel Brant had instructed me to do with regard to keeping it safely under control but as it settled into my hand I felt my math unit launch itself into motion and unfold. Linkages decoupling as specialized units were freed from working together to replicate general tasks, before starting to greedily consider the weapon in my hand.
oh, that’s why it’s slow.
It’s not a math unit, it’s a ballistics computer with an alternate function.
Silly me.
I felt my registers start loading with details of what I had read in the manual, but there was a feeling of dissatisfaction at how little I know. I shook it off and pulled the gun into position like I had been told to do, I can freak out about this later without firearms in play.
Safety is on.
Check the breach, it’s clear.
Nothing downrange besides the target.
Take the empty magazine from the case and go through the motion of inserting it in the mag well, cycle the slide, before bringing the gun on target secure in a two-handed grip, release the safety.
Line up the sights with the center of mass on the target.
Hold there, for a few seconds.
“Good.” Colonel Brant said from behind me.
Safety on, drop mag placing it on the table, check breach, de-cock hammer, place the gun on the table barrel pointing downrange.
Wait a few more moments.
“You may proceed Sam.” Colonel Brant confirmed.
Ok, that’s the first part done.
My ballistics unit is waiting, no demanding, I calibrate for the gun but I tried to ignore it for now.
Opening the small box of rounds, I took the first out, it’s weird how small it is given the potential for ending a life it held. Holding it made my ballistics unit clack a few values into place as it estimated powder charge and bullet weight, not letting it distract me I then loaded them one by one until the magazine was full before returning it to the table.
I took another deep breath and picked up the gun again, I couldn’t ignore my ballistics unit this time and while I brought it up in my right hand my left index finger traced a path between key points on the weapon.
Safety is on.
Check the breach, it’s clear.
Nothing downrange.
Take the now loaded magazine then load it into the mag well, cycle the slide, bring the gun on target, and release the safety.
Line up the sights center of mass.
Wait for the go-ahead.
“Proceed with your first shot, try not to flinch.”
Wait why would I flinch?
I smoothly depressed the trigger.
The gun fired, slide slamming back as I observed that the first round landed high but on the target.
Adjusting estimate for ballistic characteristics. Complete. 14 rounds remain.
I felt my entire ballistics unit shudder through a rapid setting change.
“Good shot, On target but high. Excellent control of the recoil, once you are back on target you may proceed at your own pace.” Colonel Brant commented even as my ballistics unit was telling me where I needed to move the pistol in order to hit the center of the target.
I fire again, and this time the round arrives on the edge of the central black circle on the target.
Adjust angle down by 2%, tightening charge variance estimate by 5%, adjusted cycle time estimate down by 6%. 13 rounds remain.
I fire again, the round is firmly in the center of the black circle
Accuracy and precision are acceptable, proceeding at an optimal rate of fire. 12 rounds remain.
Then I begin to smoothly press and reset the trigger repeatedly, allowing just enough time for the slide to cycle before confirming the gun was still on target.
11, 10, 9, 8…
The rounds are all landing neatly in the black dot at the center, the math required to keep landing them within the circle despite the forces being applied to the gun by its discharges are all but negligible at this range.
7, 6, 5, 4…
The offset of my eye looking down the sites compared to the barrel is similarly handled by my ballistics unit with ease. It knows exactly where my hands are with my previous investigation of the gun’s geometry it can then figure out exactly where the rounds will emerge from.
3, 2, 1. Empty.
The slide locks back, smoke curling from the barrel and breach.
Safety on, drop mag placing it on the table, check breach, de-cock hammer, place on table barrel pointing downrange.
My ballistics unit ran a quick analysis of the hits it recognized, no round is outside of the expected margin created by barrel harmonics or differences in individual rounds fired. Deciding its work is done my ballistics unit refolds itself back to handling general math.
“You’re not supposed just fire as fast as possible; you need to refocus and get the gun back on target as I said!” Colonel Brant was shouting and the realization caused me to jump. I checked the pistol was still secure then turned to look behind me.
“What?” I asked confused why she seemed pissed off, Molly was staring downrange and not saying anything. “I never lost the target though?”
Colonel Brant continued to glower at me, but Molly stepped up to press the button to pull the target up, and Colonel Brant’s expression changed to a carefully neutral one as it arrived.
“That’s an interesting grouping.” she said flatly.
“I thought you said you’ve never shot a gun before?” Molly asked looking at the target carefully.
“I haven’t.”
I blinked a couple of times realizing what I had said and what I had been doing.
Ah fuck.
“Pack up the gun and we will return it to the armory.” Colonel Brant said after a long pause.
I nodded already beginning to repack the gun into the case. When we brought it back to the armory Colonel Brant said she would clean it later and that I didn’t need to worry about it this time. After that I quietly followed them as they found a nearby conference room, I sat down in one of the chairs distracted as I replayed the fifteen shots in my head.
It’s simple.
Bring the gun on target and shoot.
Recoil doesn’t exist as far as my body is concerned.
I don’t need to spend time aiming either because I have a fucking ballistics unit in my brain.
Great.
“Sam!”
Wait, someone was talking to me.
I brought my head up to find Molly looking at me with concern. “You back with us?”
“Ah, yeah sorry I…” I tried to answer before trailing off.
“Did you know about that beforehand?” Colonel Brant said in the gentlest voice I had heard out of her.
I shook my head. “There were some things that make sense in retrospect but no wasn’t aware I had… that in my head.”
“And what is that?” She prompted.
“I guess I have a computation unit that is focused on ballistics.” I answered looking at my shoes.
“Well, I guess we can drop most of the accuracy-related work from your training.” Colonel Brant said wryly, she then sighed. “I apologize for my initial reaction on the range, I was… surprised.”
I looked up not having expected that then tried to think of a response.
“Well, it’s not like I warned you or something,” I said eventually. “Fuck it’s not like I expected whatever that was, I didn’t even want a gun, they aren’t exactly intended for minimizing injuries!”
She nodded.
“No, they aren’t, and I want you to exhaust every possibility available to you before you shoot.” She confirmed then got a hard edge to her voice. “But if there is no alternative which will preserve innocent lives, I will demand you to shoot.”
She glanced at Molly, for a moment then back at me.
“Regardless of what I am personally, we in the department aren’t the military or the police so I’m hoping you will see how much deeper our pool of alternatives is before you need to pull that trigger.” She continued gently. “We will still train you so that if it comes to that, you will know what to do. You already can get rounds on target but there’s a whole lot more beyond that.”
“Alright,” I said uncomfortably. “Now what?
Molly spent a moment or two studying my expression, then a smile emerged.
“We get some lunch and then I get you to start learning how to kick people’s asses without breaking them.”