"You're good to start." Lance announces.

The instant he does, Cassie bursts through the door, taking aim and firing at the second closest target. She keeps her aim on him for a split second longer than she needs to, and thrusts her knife towards the closest one. Her arm stops just before making contact, and she fires at the third target. Once again her pistol lingers on the last target for a split second.

She bursts through the door, a flurry of flashing steel and bullets.

"She's fast." Lance says, and I can't help but beam with pride. "But why is she lingering?"

"I noticed that too." Robin agrees.

Cassie quickly drops her magazine at only half empty, slides another one in, and sprints into the main street. She dashes from cover to cover, quickly making her way through. She always reloads once she reaches half her magazine used.

"She's simulating a double tap." Lance realizes. "Trying to conserve ammo. That's good."

Cassie races through the rest of the course quickly, and after only a minute jogs back over to our car.

"How'd I do?" She asks.

"I can tell you have more experience than someone your age should." Lance says. "I want to confirm something before I offer advice though. Why did you hesitate after every shot?"

"I fire twice when I'm alone. In a group, once is enough to disable them and let someone else finish them off, but I don't have that luxury by myself."

"I thought so. Thank you. My biggest piece of advice comes from an obvious inexperience in fighting AI or extremely modified humans. When you dash in and out of cover, you tend to take the same route. Anyone with perfect reaction time can and will wait while aiming at where you entered. The moment you exit they can and will fire. Vary your exits and don't leave the opportunity for someone to just wait for you to enter their sightline."

"Alright, that's good. Thanks."

"I'm glad to have you by my side. Does anyone else have any suggestions?" Lance asks.

"Nothing she can be expected to fix." Nimda says.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Cassie's eyes immediately narrow, glaring at her.

"You're inaccurate, to put it simply. Firing at the head or the heart would vastly improve your lethality, but an organic mind cannot be expected to be perfect. You would need a visual co-processor connected to your left arm to fix that problem. Or at least a visual autofire system built into your gun."

"I'm not putting shit in my head."

"Like I said, nothing you can be expected to fix. When we return to the city I can-"

"Nimda, enough." Lance cuts her off. "If your comments aren't going to be productive, keep them to yourself."

"I'm just trying to help."

"And she's made it clear she doesn't want your help. So drop it."

"Fine."

"Robin, did you notice anything?" Lance asks.

"We'll need to discuss how you are going to mesh with us when in a group, but it won't be worth it to discuss before you see how we fight. I have no comments or thoughts to give about that run other than the fact that you did well."

"Blue, why don't you go next? I'm curious to see how you fight." Lance says.

"Alright."

Cassie removes the cameras strapped onto her body, but just hands me her helmet instead of removing everything from it. She begins to quickly strap the cameras to me, and Nimda grabs another tablet which she places on the car's hood next to Cassie. It displays the view of all four cameras on it at the same time.

I spend a few moments ensuring my guns are ready, and head towards the course.

"Sorry you won't be able to help on this one." I say to Corax. "I lost your dummy bombs in the storm."

"Alright." He reassures me, but remains perched on my shoulder.

"Am I good to start?" I yell to everyone.

"Go ahead." Lance nods.

I draw both pistols and step through the door. Three shapes are laid out in front of me. Don't think, just aim at a head and pull the trigger.

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Three explosions mark three potential deaths. They're not real, they're just rock, wood and steel.

I step into a nearby room and find seven targets. I fire seven times before stepping out onto the street. I point at a head and fire as I walk through the rest of the course, just take a step, point, and squeeze a trigger.

Corax pulls on my ear once the last explosion echoes through both me and the cavern.

"Right. Thank you." I unload my magazines, clear the slide, engage the gun's safeties, and slide them into their holsters. I'm not taking any risks.

I step out of the course and walk over to the car.

"Well, you certainly do fight like an AI." Lance says. "Unfortunately, that's not a compliment for you. You have to use cover when outnumbered. I understand you can aim and fire quickly and accurately, but you will eventually get overwhelmed, and from what I understand about your construction, one shot would be the end of your body at minimum."

"I just can't let myself think when I do things like this." I say. "If I comprehend anything other than just point and pull, I will spiral incredibly quickly."

"Then it's best if you don't fight." Lance says simply. "I'm sure you won't agree to that, however. So instead, is it going to be possible to follow me closely?"

"I should be able to do that, yes."

"Good. I suppose I should show what I can do then. If you would put the cameras on me please."

He hasn't taken off his gear since I first met him, and he has nothing to prepare. I strap the cameras onto him and his helmet.

"Thank you."

He opens the trunk of their car and pulls out a large, metal shield the size of his entire body with a small, thick glass pane letting him see. He hefts it easily with one hand and pulls out a pistol with the other.

"Sorry if I block most of the view." He steps through the door, holding his shield in front of him, and only revealing his gun and a few fingers to the world in front of him. He plants three shots in the three heads and moves on.

When he reaches the door he braces himself in front of it and slowly nudges the door open with his shield. He places a shot in each person as they're revealed to him. He does the same thing with the door to the main street, and when the door is fully open he races for cover, entirely forgetting his gun. Once in cover he slowly inches out, once again shooting targets as they appear.

He finishes his run and returns to us.

"That's what I do." He says. "I'd like to hear your thoughts."

"We need to move quickly." Cassie says. "I'm not going to let Nimda fail and Vince die. Going slow and methodically is good for keeping us safe, but my safety isn't my priority."

"I can move quickly. I wanted to show how I fight, and that's how. Plus, I might not make it to Mara. If Nimda has to hack in somewhere unsafe, I'm staying behind to protect her."

"I've been meaning to ask that." I say. "How is Nimda going to find a place to hack in without Mara being able to just shut off that connection?"

"We'll go over that plan once you learn how everyone fights." Nimda says. "Rest assured, the child has given us a few potential locations."

"Guess I'm next?" Robin asks. "To tell you the truth, I don't have much experience fighting on my own, only ever with my brother, but I'll do my best to demonstrate what I can do." He waits while Lance straps the cameras to him, and he stands up and grabs a rifle from his car.

He steps into the course and brings his rifle up to his shoulder. Firing three shots at all the targets. When he arrives at the door to the house, he slowly pushes it open and follows the opening angle with his rifle. He hits all of them square in the head, never once being without cover.

He steps out into the street and sprints for cover just like his brother, entirely ignoring the targets until he reaches a small collection of stacked boxes. From there he does the same thing he did with the door. He slowly steps back, his rifle trained on the edge of the box. The instant he has an angle on a target, he fires.

"The fuck was Kismet thinking sending two slow fighters?" Cassie asks no one in particular.

"It was a volunteer mission." Lance says. "And trust me, out of everyone who volunteered, you should be happy you got us two."

He continues that system through the rest of the course, and eventually returns to us. His time was almost the same as Lance's.

"That's what my skills are." Robin says. "Normally I'm over Lance's shoulder offering cover fire as we move. I'll do the same with whoever's on point."

"Nimda, just show what you do." Cassie doesn't sound happy at all.

"This body isn't designed to fight in the Physical." Nimda says.

"Oh, of course it's not."

"I'm equipped with an active denial system. Shots directed at me can be redirected by up to six degrees. That means I will not be harmed, but equally, makes my own shots wildly inaccurate. The power requirements are incredibly high, and using it too often means I won't have the power required to fight Mara, and as such, I will be doing my best to avoid combat."

"And let me guess. If I use you as cover, my shots will be deflected too?" Cassie asks.

"They will."

"Of fucking course." Cassie drops her head into her hands. "Clover, can you fight?"

"I can try. Can I see your rifle?" She asks Robin.

"Oh! Yeah, go for it." He hands it over to Clover, who takes it and begins mechanically checking it while she shuffles towards the start of the course.

She presses the rifle tightly against her shoulder and hefts it, forcing her body upright.

She steps through the door and sends off three shots, moving to the next area. She fights just like I do, stepping in and putting a bullet in each of them. She does the same with the street, ignoring cover and placing one bullet carefully in each head. She returns to us and passes the rifle off to Robin.

"Tell me what I did wrong later." She collapses to the ground, and all of us reach out to try to break her fall.

"I guess we'll end there today." Lance says. "If Clover is up for it, we'll start group drills tomorrow and discuss our plans for the attack. In the meantime, can I convince you to stay with us for a while? I've seen lack of cohesion be the reason behind many of my friends not coming back."

"The only thing I have to play is cards." Cassie says. "Only reason I can play with Blue is because she can't lie to save her life. No offense, but I'm not playing with people who have no tells."

"Understandable. Cards aren't a popular pastime in the city either. That doesn't mean we can't talk though, share some stories."

"I don't have any stories I want to share, but I'd like to hear yours." I say.

"Yeah alright. I've got a few." Cassie takes a seat, and I settle in next to her. "Let me tell you what a shit-show Denver was."

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