The reaction of Visette’s blood was somewhat written off as a medical anomaly. After all, there was no way to study it comprehensively and without a proper explanation from Visette herself, nothing could be understood.
The doctor who studied Visette did put forward a theory that the genes that gave Abnormals their abilities were especially unstable in Vis. That instability gave her multiple traits, or at least, that was the thought behind it. A few concerns were raised about the long-term effects if the theory was true but the only to find out would be to wait.
Lyn was forced to keep quiet about the discovery by Commander Wakefield so she continued training Visette as if nothing happened. Dr. Eliza ran a few more psych tests and concluded that it was safe for Visette to use a firearm in a controlled environment but urged caution while training. Specifically, caution when designating someone or something as an enemy as Visette’s thought process caused her to opt for the immediate elimination of a hostile target.
“You still know how to shoot a gun, right?”
As Lyn escorted Visette into the shooting range, she removed her leather jacket and tied up her dark brown hair before putting on a pair of protective earmuffs.
“Yes,” Visette answered simply.
“Well, this isn’t just a gun you’ll be shooting. You asked for high-caliber weapons, more specifically, a damn AMR.” Lyn shook her head while gesturing toward a table with an incredibly large carrying case on it. About a dozen other smaller black suitcases were also on the table but they weren’t as eye-catching.
Since the room was empty with the exception of the two of them, the large case stood out even more.
“Open it,” Lyn instructed as Visette finished putting on her protective gear.
With a loud click, the carrying case was opened and a massive sniper rifle was revealed. It was one of the most powerful firearms that had been developed on Novo Prime. When compared to artillery and explosives, an anti-material rifle may have seemed lacking but it couldn’t be beaten when precision was taken into account. It held the benefit of lethal firepower without the chance of harming allies. It was just too bad the AMR’s were still in the prototype stage since the recoil was far too strong and it weighed so much that it greatly hampered mobility.
Visette channeled psionic energy into her muscles and lifted the rifle up, noting that it was nearly eight feet from stock to the tip of the barrel.
“If you fire it while laying down it’s more manageable but it still kicks like a damn horse,” Lyn commented while searching through an ammo container. She fished out a bullet that was nearly the size of a carrot and tossed it to Visette who caught it.
Visette studied the gun before easily figuring out the loading mechanism and inserted the bullet before pulling back the firing bolt. Since the gun was a prototype it didn’t have a scope but she didn’t need one anyway since the targets weren’t further than a hundred or so feet from her.
Visette lifted up the hefty rifle and peered down the iron sights of the gun before lining herself up with the target.
“Take your time when-” Lyn was about to urge caution when a thundering sound and a bright flash filled her vision. A large puff of gunpowder wafted through the air before dissipating.
“Hey, take it easy!” Lyn shouted while adjusting her earmuffs. For some reason, they didn’t feel quite adequate, especially when firing such a powerful gun in an enclosed space.
“I apologize,” Visette said in an insincere and emotionless tone. She switched from her firing position and let the gun rest on its stock with the barrel pointing straight into the air. There was an ache in her hands after firing the rifle but she wanted to continue.
Lyn took a moment to compare the large sniper rifle to the short, white-haired, girl it towered over. She glanced toward the metal target and found only traces of scrap remained with a massive bullet hole lodged into the solid concrete wall behind it.
“There’s no guessing where your bullet hit.”
“I can recall the approximate location. Due to my lack of experience with this particular gun, I was unprepared for the recoil and my bullet hit just below the heart. If it was a human it would be the upper part of the ribcage to be exact. If it was an abnormal it would be toward the lower part of the mid-section when comparing heights and body structure,” Visette intoned a chunk of somewhat needless data.
“Does it matter? I think as long as you hit someone with that thing they’ll die instantly.” Lyn reached for a pack of cigarettes only to recall that she was attempting to curb her habit. “Damn it,” She muttered regretfully.
“...I understand.” Visette replied after thinking about it for a few moments. “Would it still be acceptable if I aim at vital areas?”
“Sure, do whatever you want...Let’s just hold off on firing that again for right now and move on.” Lyn clearly wasn’t a fan of the rifle even though Visette seemed to be.
From Visette's perspective, the AMR was a weapon that required little effort to use while offering an incredibly high kill potential. It meant that her psionics could be used passively and she wouldn’t need to mentally expend herself. It was no wonder she took a liking to its efficiency when that was her main goal in terms of combat.
“The next weapon we have on the board is a semi-automatic low caliber handgun. It’s your designated service weapon when in civilian clothes and your usual sidearm when you're not deployed on a mission.”
Visette received the easy to handle pistol and fired off a few rounds, hitting her marks perfectly before returning it to its case.
“This seems to be a useful weapon. Why is it that civilians do not possess weapons like this?” Visette inquired.
“...Whenever the Corrupted attack there is a mandatory martial-law as well as forced rationing of supplies. As a result, people become disgruntled and in the past, there have been riots over food and some cities fell quicker because of it. If you gave civilians stronger weapons they’d become more of a threat. At least, that’s how the governing officials see it,” Lyn explained without any particular thoughts of her own on the subject.
Visette could see the logic behind the decision. Her encounters during the evacuation spoke for themself. Even if people could better defend themselves with stronger weapons, it made it easier to attack others.
For her next weapon she was given a large revolver. It outclassed the smaller model civilians were allowed to have. The heavy revolver boasted of a 8-bullet capacity in its firing cylinder as well as a longer barrel with stronger firepower.
“This one is a bit new and I have to say, I prefer the older version.” Lyn pointed to her revolver that was holstered under her arm. It was a standard model which only held 6 bullets.
Visette loaded the revolver before pulling down the hammer and firing off 8 bullets in quick succession. While in her hand, the heavy revolver barely even moved which Lyn was able to notice. Even more surprising, the 8 bullets all hit the same place and broke through the reinforced metal target with relative ease.
“Next,” Lyn spoke with a tinge of jealousy.
Even the abnormals who were snipers or marksman needed a lot of training to get their shots right. Visette was in the unique position where she could pick up something and learn after she gained an initial understanding. For example, the AMR prototype caused her to account for recoil on all guns in order to maintain accuracy. The average person took weeks to develop the proper muscle memory required for shooting but Visette wasn’t one of them.
Visette tried out different types of handguns with variations in their overall power and velocity before moving onto stronger weapons. The latter was where Visette’s talents would truly shine as they were the primary weapons used to combat the hordes of Corrupted that would pour into cities and towns in endless droves.
“Here, this is the Matchstick Model Eight.” Lyn lifted up a strange looking gun and handed it to Visette.
“...A shotgun?” Visette inquired after studying the weapon.
It had a long tube-like barrel, stocky frame, and a huge drum magazine. Its purpose was to clearly kill multiple Corrupted in close quarters.
“Short-range, high-spread, quick firing rate.” Lyn listed the details of the weapon before handing over a box full of shells. “Fire whenever you want.”
Visette nodded and loaded the drum to capacity, discovering that it held 32 large shells. She aimed in the general direction of the target and fired repeatedly. In less than ten seconds, the magazine was empty and smoke poured from the barrel.
The metal target was torn to scraps and a few targets she wasn’t aiming at were also damaged. It was easy to imagine how human enemies would fare if they faced weapons meant for use against Corrupted.
“It’s for when the Corrupted get too close, you see. It’s commonly used to prevent the defensive lines or trenches from being overrun.” Lyn smirked as she thought she could read a hint of surprise on Vis’ face. She took the Matchstick Model-8 from Visette’s hands and replaced it with a scoped rifle.
“Anti-Corrupted Marksman Rifle. Semi-automatic, long-range, high-velocity, and high powered. This is easier to use than a sniper rifle and since it holds a fair number of bullets there’s no pressure on missing a few shots. It’s mostly used when the Corrupted are still a fair distance away.”
Visette made a mental note of the characteristics of the rifle and fired a few shots until she had a good feel for the weapon. She unloaded it and handed to Lyn, indicating she wanted to move on.
“Anti-Corrupted Auto Rifle Mark-One. Multiple firing modes, medium to long range depending on your preference, fairly manageable recoil. I guess the last part shouldn’t really concern you though.”
Visette took time to analyze the weapon. It seemed that the Anti-Corrupted weapons were all created with bulky frames and heavy barrels in order to reduce recoil as much as possible.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“What is the total magazine capacity?” Visette asked.
“For the standard rifle? It’s about fifty or so. There are other versions of the gun that can hold up to a hundred bullets but they a bit more difficult to use.”
Visette tested each firing mode and found that it was a useful weapon. Though, it still didn’t compare to the AMR to her.
After trying a few more Anti-Corrupted weapons, Lyn called it a day.
…
After being returned to her cell, Visette started her daily routine of channeling psionic energy through her body and expanding the maximum range of her psionic pulse.
Meanwhile, Lyn had went to meet with Commander Wakefield to discuss the next step in Visette’s training.
“So what do you think, O’Hara?” He asked while looking over a few of Visette’s medical records. The reaction of her blood when left alone weighed heavy on his mind. For some reason, he felt that it was the sign of some hidden abnormal trait that had yet to be discovered, something that became a common theme with Visette.
“She can shoot stationary targets more than well enough, Commander,” Lyn said truthfully. “She showed no problem with using any weapon I gave her though she seems to like higher caliber weapons much more than ordinary ones.”
“So, do you think we should put her in a training camp with the other soldiers? It seems to me that her skills would be best honed if she was allowed to train in an environment that emulated live situations.” Commander Wakefield asked without looking up from his desk.
“Do you think she would be ready? I mean, Dr. Eliza hasn’t fully cleared her and there’s also the fact that you wanted to keep her abilities quiet until she was done with training.”
“I’ll ask Dr. Eliza to submit a comprehensive profile on Visette Thales. As for keeping her traits confidential? I’ll arrange for the construction of a mock-training camp, smaller in scale than the real one we use. Like before you’ll be the one to watch over her during this time so…” Commander Wakefield pushed a thick booklet forward and gestured for Lyn to pick it up.
“Familiarize yourself with this copy of the training regiment but do feel free to make any necessary adjustments.”
Lyn flipped through some of the pages of the textbook-like training manual before her expression turned sour. “How long do you expect me to train her?”
“Four years,” The Commander answered plainly.
“With all due respect, I don’t think she’ll be able to handle four years of this, Commander. Honestly, to go through a full day worth of training exercises listed in this thing would take at least sixteen to seventeen hours a day. That means she’ll be performing vigorous activity with little to no rest,” Lyn protested before continuing.
“This booklet even says that a prerequisite to the training requires the trainees to complete a bunch of other specialized courses. Even an Abnormal with as many traits as her would see this as torture. And you’re saying you want to throw her in head first?”
“I said you can adjust as you please, but yes, that is exactly what I want. I plan on creating a special operations unit centered around Visette Thales.”
“Bullshit,” Lyn cursed.
“It’s the truth, O’Hara. Do you really think this time of peace we’re in will last long?” Commander Wakefield’s eyes narrowed at Lyn as he asked his question. “History has shown time and time again that the Corrupted will attack without fail.”
“So?” Lyn pushed him to get to the point.
“What do you think will happen if we have government leaders who are too busy focusing on political gain when a horde comes? If it comes time to evacuate who do you think will set themselves as priority while thousands die?”
“What are you saying, Commander?” Lyn asked cautiously.
“I’m saying that Visette Thales is the solution to a very pressing issue, O’Hara.” Commander Wakefield smirked while Lyn frowned deeply after understanding what he meant.
“...You want to use her to assassinate your political rivals?” Lyn asked in disbelief.
“No, I want to use her to get rid of the people blocking the way of progress. I’ll admit that some of them happen to be my rivals but a good deal of them aren’t. Here, you probably didn’t know about this.” Commander Wakefield handed over a folder that had a large classified stamp on its front.
Lyn slowly opened it up and began reading it aloud. “The evacuation plan that Commander Wakefield has proposed is too dangerous to the governmental infrastructure of New Mayhall. Expending resources to create a railroad as well as supply waystations is a gross waste of time and manpower. We even suspect that this plan would put Commander Wakefield in a unique position of power that completely surpasses the Governor himself. As a result, the board of councilors is unanimous in our decision to reject this plan and declare henceforth that all materials relating to it are marked as classified or outright destroyed.”
Commander Wakefield leaned forward with a cold look on his face and began speaking. “I proposed we create an evacuation system that would benefit the entire city. If it was carried out a train would be constructed which would be capable of holding a large portion of the population. From there it would go on, stopping at resupplying stations, until reaching the coast where we would then use a ship or a submarine to head out to the ocean. Since aquatic life remains as one of the most viable food sources to this day and it wouldn’t be too much of a issue to create sustainable environment.”
“...It sounds like a good plan.” Lyn had to admit when thinking about it.
As the city stood now, there were underground tunnels that led to bunkers to keep people safe. It wasn’t a solution since it only meant they would be effectively trapped while the Corrupted tried to find a way in.
“The only reason it was rejected was the fact that the city officials can’t consolidate their power in an environment that places a high priority on security and strict rules. The military would ultimately replace them in terms of influence after too long.”
“But everyone rejected the plan, so that means you would have to stage a coup and force them to agree.” Lyn spoke gravely as the cost of overthrowing the governing body of the city would come at a cost. A power shift would cause destabilization which would also prove fatal if a horde was to happen right after.
“No, there are members of the council who are neutral. They agree with the plan but the politics behind it would put them at risk, O’Hara. It appears that the Governor himself approves of it, but again, no one can outright say it.”
“So you want to kill the people who are against it?” Lyn asked.
“For the overall good of society, yes, it’s not a very hard decision to make.”
“Yeah, It’s easy when you’re the one giving the order isn’t it?”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, O’hara, but I recall you being very eager to kill Visette not too long ago. Now you have a change of heart when faced with the prospect of her being the one to kill. Isn’t that quite strange?”
“That was different…” Lyn found herself unable to respond properly.
Commander Wakefield saw she wasn’t completely backing down so he pushed further. “Maybe I was mistaken to make you watch over her, O’Hara. I’ll assign someone else to–”
“There’s no need,” Lyn interrupted.
“Listen… All you have to do is what you’re ordered to, O’Hara. Besides, Visette Thales is by no means an innocent person. She killed Councilor Richards with little to no provocation. And even though evidence of his criminal misdeeds surfaced after, there was no way that she would’ve knew that. So by all accounts, she had no real justification other than the fact she deemed him to be a hostile enemy. I can think of no one more fitting for the task if it isn’t her.”
Lyn remained silent, no longer willing to argue about it. Councilor Richards was someone who arranged for the death of her father and after that fact came to light, her approval of Visette slightly rose. There was also the fact that she spent most of her time interacting with Vis and made several changes to her lifestyle as a result, even going far to cut down on her drinking and smoking.
The result of Lyn’s actions weren’t all a complete conscious decision on her part. Minerva performed extensive research into genetics when creating Visette to ensure every single part of her had a purpose. Suffice to say that Visette’s facial features were pre-arranged to create the idea that she was non-threatening. Even as a living weapon, Minerva planned for the possibility that she would’ve been revealed to the world one day. By giving her an innocent appearance, they would be able to ease Visette’s existence into normality since no one would see her as a danger on a surface level.
It was important to note that the entire scenario was with the assumption that the true limits of her psionics or biology weren’t revealed along with her existence. The installation of her psionic implant showed a glimpse of her peak, causing visual-auditory hallucinations to the entire facility and killing those who were in her immediate proximity.
If those effects were able to be replicated on a mass scale, she’d be akin to a nuclear weapon but with far more benefits in her use. Her psionics left no trace of destruction or evidence, she could attack without warning, and she could target specific people. Holding complete control over a small country wasn’t out of the question. It was a frightening prospect to say the least but without Minerva around to groom her, it was unknown if Visette would come to realize her potential.
“...If that’s all, you’re dismissed, O’Hara.” Commander Wakefield waved Lyn away after a period of silence.
Her blue eyes continued to stare daggers at him before she mockingly saluted and left his office.