His name is Irvine Kinneas…
An advanced student cadet of Galbadia Garden and one of it’s most skilled Sniper in its history of operation.
As a state orphan, Irvine was one of the lucky one sent to the Garden program at age ten. Since then, he has climbed his way to the top rank with sheer grit, persistence, sweat, tears, and blood.
Every single day he woke up at dawn, run laps and do push up to shape his body towards perfection. He treats his weapons like his limb and maintains it so many time that he could disassemble and reassemble any firearm with his eyes closed.
The downside to Irvine’s single-minded determination to reach the top was his isolation from his fellow student cadet members, and before he realizes it, he became a loner without friends. That is not to say that he is without social contacts, as admirers and underclassmen start to approach him for advice and guidance.
At first, he is at a loss on how to teach his underclassmen what he has learned, but with time found the experience therapeutic and relaxing enough that he found himself enjoying it, which leads to more widespread popularity among his younger peers.
Another unexpected effect of Irvine’s desire for perfection and reaching the top rank in the Garden is his increase in attractiveness to members of the opposite sex, and it helps that his facial feature is considered to be one of the most handsome among men in the whole Garden.
From what he had heard, he is already considered one of the divas of the Garden.
Some girls even printed out his poster in their dorms.
Although for the life of him, he could not understand why they need to print a life-size poster of him during his swimming sessions and place it on the ceiling above their bed.
The lifestyle of girls are a mystery to him, and he considers this as one of those unsolved life mysteries barred to men, just as when he starts finding wet girls underwear inside his classroom desk.
The numbers of men in the Garden is low to begin with, and if you combine the fact with his status as one of the top rank student cadets in the Garden, then no wonder he starts receiving dating offers as well as gifts of admiration and appreciation.
It is a very flattering and addicting experience, receiving all this attention from members of the opposite sex and he might let too much of the love and adoration into his head.
Irvine already considers it normal to accept a dinner invitation from beautiful women every night, ever since a woman insists that she foot the whole bill. Although to be fair, he offered tuition at her place for a while in return.
The first person who asks her for a dinner date is a lovely and fit woman, and he might be a bit smitten with her, so he agrees. That was his first mistake, and his second mistake was when he accepts the invitation for coitus.
Ever since then, every girl in the Garden has the impression that they could have a taste of him as long as they buy him dinner and give gifts first.
Irvine could refuse, he really could, but at this point, it’s already water under the bridge and his reputation as being easy already set in stone. At that point, men start avoiding him, hurling insults like man-whore and belittle his innocence, purity, and worth as a man. He might turn to alcohol for a while because of that, but he managed to climb back up from depression and decided to embrace his new situation as a means to improve his lot in life.
The ‘gifts’ he received from women are gathered, and he put in savings with the intention to buy the most advanced light drop suit armor available in the Garden armory, the ‘Dragonfly’ Scout drop suit armor. The Dragonfly is a suit designed to adapt and conform to an individual’s usage patterns, learning and eventually predicting actions before they occur, substantially increasing response times and maneuverability. The suit is imported from the Gallente Federation Balamb Garden through the Headmaster personal connection.
When he first saw the drop suit armor displayed in the armory, he fell in love with it. That is until he saw the price and left thinking it was only a pipedream. Now with his additional income, he believes that pipe dream would soon turn into reality.
And after months of backbreaking, dirty work, resulting in getting slightly overweight due to accepting dinner invitation every night and skipping his physical practices, he could finally buy his dream drop suit armor and leave behind the sordid industry forever.
The moment he parted with his credits and receive the drop suit armor was one of the happiest in his life. He was so joyful with his purchase that he decided to wear it immediately and contact some of his underclassmen for a drink of beer in the Guild office to celebrate.
That day then became his happiest and saddest day of his life.
After a few jugs of beers, he noticed a small girl wearing one of those fancy dryad leaves wig made by Lai Dai from the holovision advertisement, cutting through the bar towards the Guild office concierge.
He first became concerned that such a young girl would apply for a job at the Mercenary Guild office, and then shock as one of the Garden administrators, Master Yu seems to be part of her entourage.
He does not understand why Master Yu is there with her but then became convinced that she is ignorant or are being misled about the danger of a mercenary job. He then resolved himself to dissuade her from her current path by blocking her way using his legs.
However, to his shock, the little girl kicked away his legs forcefully and passed through with her companions in tow, leaving him behind. With irritation he took a stand from his seat and chased after the little girl, confronting her directly before realizing that one of her companions is also a little girl around the same age as the one wearing the fancy Dryad leaves wig.
Changing tactic, he falsely asks for medical assistance as a cover to bring them to a quieter place to enlighten their group the danger of introducing a mercenary life to such a young girl in the medical ward. However, he did not expect the little girl in the fancy Dryad leaves wig to insult his concern with such cruelty.
In fact, he did not expect to receive a blow from her in such strength even more. The moment the little girl fist strikes his torso, he felt as if a truck just crashed to him, and his body soared through the air and ended with him blacking out when he landed head first on the Guild office concierge.
By the time he came about, he wakes up to a scene of devastation. His fellow student cadets and even more senior mercenaries are injured and are being attended to by a medical personnel. All of them are incapacitated after receiving what seems to be a monstrous hit on their drop suit armor.
Looking down on his torso, he laments the crack and indentation of the dropsuit armor he just bought with his hard earned savings. With a start, he rises and starts to look for his underclassmen with difficulty as his chest is in pain and with a mild headache. Eventually, he found both of his underclassmen. His two underclassmen are unconscious and diagnosed by the medical personnel to have difficulty breathing due to the damage to their windpipe, as well as suffering from cuts and bruises because of crashing through the Guild office window.
With rage, he demanded to know the location of the culprit who causes all this mess and injury. Only to be answered by the medical personnel that she could not be found and that no one knows who she is.
As he became disgusted by their response, he left his underclassmen under the medical personnel's care and with haste return to his quarters in the dormitory.
Not bothering to change his newly bought and damaged drop suit armor, he took out his beloved Railgun Sniper Rifle from his locker and chambered live ammunition into it before leaving it on his bed.
After that, he took some explosives from his locker, in the form of grenades and claymore mines, before he secures the grenades to his waist belt and strapping the claymore mines to both sides of his thighs.
He then took out his Caldari Nova knife from his locker, a basic civilian model, and sheathed it on his waist. Finally, he took his urban camouflage cloak from the locker and wore it. The urban camouflage cloak reached all the way to his ankle and split open from the middle so he could reach out from the inside of the cloak from there. He then reaches for his Railgun Sniper Rifle on his bed, before he paused.
He has fear and some doubt on what he is about to do, and there is no guarantee that the culprit would still be in the Garden. However, remembering the condition of his underclassmen, seniors and the state of the Guild office, he steeled his resolve and grasped his Railgun Sniper Rifle firmly before concealing it under his urban camouflage cloak.
After having all his gears, he took a deep breath and released it, erasing the tension and doubt that he has. With haste, he exits his quarter and left the dormitory. No one challenges him on the way as no one beside his two unconscious underclassmen are aware of who owns that particular ‘Dragonfly’ drop suit armor.
Furthermore, his fellow student cadets assume that he is a senior mercenary with business in the Garden from the drop suit armor he wore and the confident gait in his steps as he walks.
He has a destination in mind, and that is the clock tower behind Master Yu’s office. He have been in Master Yu office before to discuss how best to advise and teach some of his younger underclassmen. He always noted how convenient it is that the clock tower position is directly behind Master Yu, so he could be aware of the flow of time spent inside Master Yu’s office no matter where he looks.
There is no certain chance that the culprit will be in Master Yu’s office or if she would return if she is no longer there. However, on the off-chance that she does return, he should not miss his chance to even the score.
As he skulks around the perimeter, he keeps in mind the location of the surveillance system and using all his accumulated knowledge and trained skills as a sniper to avoid and hack into them. By the time he reached the entrance to the clock tower, he is certain that the surveillance system did not manage to detect him even once.
It’s unfortunate that he has to employ the knowledge and skills given to him by Garden to circumvent the Garden’s security and surveillance system, but it could not be helped in this case as he hacked the locking mechanism of the clock tower and enters it.
Looking around, he noted the decrepit condition of the tower and spotted the ladder to go up towards the clock. He strapped his Railgun Sniper Rifle on his back and started climbing to the top.
After a while climbing up, he finally reached the top which leads to a narrow hallway where the maintenance hatch that leads outside is located. He then opens it before he immediately set up a gunner nest right next to the open hatch. With the strong wind flapping his urban camouflage cloak about he spotted the window which leads to the interior of Master Yu’s office.
Once confirming the potential target location, he settles down and prepares the Railgun Sniper Rifle so that it aims towards the window of Master Yu office and extend the tripod leg until it’s position become stable enough for him to let go of the weapon. He then activates the Railgun power setting, flooding the internal rifling chamber with unimaginable electric voltage to fire the piece of solid tungsten at hypersonic speed the moment he pressed the trigger. A soft humming sound from the weapon soothes his frazzled mind and which has always shaped his focus during weapon training.
He could have set up so the weapon will auto-fire when a moving target is in it’s targeting reticule. However, he could not do that in this case as that setting cannot differentiate between friend and foe. Therefore he would regret it if an innocent is fired upon by mistake.
Once satisfied, he stands up and left his weapon behind, and he then approaches the location where the ladder is located again to set up the claymore mines he brought with him and attach it to both sides of the narrow hallway.
He nods with satisfaction when the claymore mines beep and register himself as friendly before the mines turn passive. These particular claymore mines cost him a pretty penny because of the friend or foe sensor and ability to register fast approaching target while being fast enough to quickly react and detonate when the target is inside the ideal kill zone.
He returns to his gunner nest and confirms through the scope that the barrel is still aiming at Master Yu’s window and proceed to lay down on his stomach just staring at the window.
His slowed his breathing and slip into a trance as he remain vaguely alert for any change that happens within the confines of that room in his sights. In this state, he did not realize the passage of time as minutes, and hours could pass while staring at the window hoping for the target to show a glimpse of herself.
However, he did realize when the light is getting dimmer as the station is transitioning into its night cycle. Even though there is still no sign of the target, he still patiently waits for that one split second chance as being taught by the sniper instructor of the Garden.
His patience is rewarded when suddenly the face of his target encompass his whole sight, superimposed on his targeting reticule. As time slows to a crawl, he could feel his heartbeat beats loudly in his chest as his adrenaline spiked suddenly and his brain process increased exponentially. In this state, there is no capacity for higher thought or critical thinking, just pure reactionary measure drilled into him through persistent training.
Without realizing it, he aimed the targeting reticule at the center of her forehead before triggering his Sniper Rifle. And with a loud boom of hypersonic acceleration, the Railgun Sniper Rifle spits out a solid piece of tungsten at hypersonic velocity. He could see the moment the piece of bullet break the window and went through his target forehead. He is surprised that the force of the bullet did not make his target’s head explode as that should be the case based on what his instructor have said. However, it did throwback her head violently as she went down to the floor.
With his target without a doubt dead and retribution became his, everything returns to normal speed as he came out of the zone of his brain that allows him to process everything at light speed.
He could not relax yet though as the security drones of the Garden would have no doubt register the sound of a weapon discharge and are, at this moment, converging to his location to eliminate a security threat to the Garden.
With haste, he closes the hatch in front of him, and proceed to quickly grab his Railgun Sniper Rifle before rushing through the narrow hallway behind him. He approaches the pair of claymore mines that he has already prepared beforehand as it registers his movement before regarding him as a friendly, which allow him to leave the pair of claymore mines behind.
When he reached the ladder to go to ground level, he uses all his limbs to hold the handlebar of the ladder before weakening his grip so he could slide down quickly to ground level. The moment his feet touched the ground, he could hear the sound of commotion and explosion from above him.
No doubt the security drones have calculated the trajectory of the broken window and analyze that the source of the weapon fire likely came from within the clock tower. He could imagine the security drones blasting open the hatch to gain entry and are now filling the narrow hallway above him looking for a target.
He ignores all the commotion and calmly walked out of the clock tower, a second later the whole top section of the clock tower explodes violently in a blaze of fire and debris. He did not look back at the exploding tower as his instructor teaches him not to look back or it will ruin his helmet night vision capability. Personally, he just follows it because it made him look cooler, as he continues walking towards the direction of his dormitory quarter.
However, for some reason, he could feel someone’s attention on him from behind. Curious, he turns around and looks at the direction of Master Yu’s office window. There he could see a mercenary glaring at him from the window ledge. Feeling cheeky, he formed an aiming motion with his right hand and raised it up as if it shoots bullet towards his direction.
He does this while knowing that the mercenary could not do anything that will attract the attention of additional security drones converging on site from a location further away.
He then turns his back on the mercenary before walking away while playfully waving as he steps forward. He then activates the cloaking device of his ‘Dragonfly’ light scout suite to disappear and become entirely invisible. He did not activate the cloaking device earlier when he is on the way to the clock tower because he wants to conserve the power level of the suit for the escape attempt after the deed is done.
The journey back to his dormitory quarter was troublesome if uneventful as there are security personnel, droids and drones swarming the place after the clock tower explosion.
However, his ranking as the top Sniper student cadet was not for show as he avoided them all while hacking through the sealed corridor of the dormitory.
He slipped through the worried student cadets congregating around the dormitory holovision, as the image of the headmaster trying to reassure students and staffs that everything is under control and that their safety is assured.
The source of the Headmaster confidence seems to be since he has already activated the ‘Cerberus’ battlemech located at the center of the lobby and security droids and drones are patrolling the Garden ground looking for the attacker or any suspicious character.
When he finally reached the safety of his quarter, he could finally relax as he deactivated his cloaking device and dropped his Railgun Sniper Rifle on his bed. He would dearly like to take a shower before bed, so he took off all his drop suit armor and gear and stored them inside his locker.
He is also thankful for being a top student cadet in the Garden, as it gives a whole room with amenities for his personal use. He then enters the shower cubicle after taking off everything.
As he turns on the hot water knob and the flow of hot water washes over his form and relaxes his tense muscle, he finally feels that everything is right with the world.
Even though there are commotion and distress in the Garden now because of his action, he is not worried. In the morning, when they realize that no one from the Garden is hurt then this whole thing will blow over, and he could return to his regular life schedule as a top student cadet Sniper of the Garden.