#Lead the way, Mumei.#

  "Sure, please follow me."

  "We're right behind you," Orion called out.

  The group passed the General Sector, stopping at an outdoor target range with instructors watching over pyers shooting.

  "Welcome to the training grounds. You need to have 50% or more accuracy to be able to start accepting contracts. We'll be providing you with bullets, so no need to worry about that." A receptionist informed the new arrivals. Clicking her fingers to get a man's attention with sky blue hair and brown eyes and the violet-haired and green-eyed woman, she spoke to them, "Zack, Jill, please instruct the dy and gentleman."

  "Aye. Follow me ss, me colleague'll take care of yer friend." The woman wearing a maroon shirt and bck trousers with binocurs hanging from her like a neckce said as she motioned Ataraxia and Mumei to follow her.

  #Say, do you have a brother?#

  "Quite a sudden question there. Aye, I used to. Name was Jack, went insane one day, talked about some sorta horrible pce with weird beings and some shit. Began ransacking the shops. Naturally, as the one to find him in that state, I was the one who had to put him down." Jill reminisced with sorrowful eyes.

  'What are the chances the devs pced this here as a joke.' Ataraxia thought.

  "Why are ya curious?" Jill asked as she recovered, "Not exactly the typical icebreaker."

  #Sorry in advance, but there's a rhyme about two children, Jack and Jill, commonly sung to children where I'm from.#

  "What a coincidence." Jill mused, "Your assistant's awfully silent."

  "Not much to say when someone's reminiscing," Mumei said as she pried her eyes away from a man firing an ACR at some paper targets. "What's with dropping the accent?"

  "Its just something to fool around with. I can speak clearly when I'm serious. Life's no fun if you're always serious." Jill enlightened, "You sure you're not just eying the man's gun?"

  "Most definitely not."

  "If you say so. Anyhow, go ahead and set up your rifle here." Jill pointed to the table and pressed a button.

  Stopping in front of a table, Ataraxia extended the rifle's bipod and propped the Ballista onto the table. In front of the table, metal targets that looked like the silhouette of the upper body of a human sprung up.

  "Aim for the second closest target. Distance should be around 130m."

  Adjusting her scope, she zeroed the scope for 125m.

  'Since 130m is only 5m more than 125, I shouldn't need to aim any higher than normal.' Ataraxia thought.

  #Wind speed?#

  "8 Knots." Mumei called out from behind.

  #Tell me if the wind speed changes.#

  "Understood."

  "Fire when ready." Jill commanded as Ataraxia adjusted her scope to compensate for the wind.

  Aiming her rifle at the target, she breathed in. Feeling her lungs fill with oxygen, she breathed out.

  *BANG*

  *TING*

  "Congrats. Bullseye on the target's head. Next, aim for the target at the far back. Should be about 1475m out." Jill called out as she looked down the binocurs hanging around her neck.

  Adjusting her scope to compensate for the bullet drop, she looked down and aimed at the target.

  "Wind speed changing to 9 knots."

  Adjusting her scope to compensate for this, she aimed at the target again.

  "Fire when ready."

  *BANG*

  *TING*

  "Another headshot. Aim for the same target." Jill said as she pushed a different button. Seeing the target move, she lifted her binocurs again and followed the target. "Fire when ready."

  "No wind speed change."

  *BANG*

  *TING*

  "Chest shot, where the heart would be. Two more shots, then we're gonna be testing your pistol shooting skills." Jill instructed.

  *BANG*

  *TING*

  *BANG*

  After Aiko finished firing, she reported the results, "A headshot and a miss. Great job little missy."

  Jill pushed a button on the table with the bel "Deactivate Targets". Watching the metal targets all fell to the ground, she pressed another button, making targets closer to the trio spring up.

  "Fire at the first target. Fire five rounds. Fire when ready."

  *BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG*

  *TING TING TING*

  "Two in the head, one in the heart, three misses. Good job. Target is the farthest one. Fire 5 rounds when ready."

  *BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG*

  *TING TING*

  "One in the head. one in the stomach, three misses. Good job. We're done now. My colleague should be done as well." Jill said as she directed the duo to follow her. Walking back to the receptionist, Ataraxia waved at Orion as he entered her view.

  "Ataraxia achieved 80% accuracy for her sniper rifle and 50% for her pistol, 60% at closer ranges, 40% at further ranges, but she's ready to take on a contract." Jill continued, "With your missing eye, I recommend having your assistant become a spotter."

  #Ok.#

  "Orion had 80% with his SMG and 70% with her pistol." Zack announced Orion's results, "His assistant could act as the heavier firepower, possibly with an M249 or something simir, with Orion being the point man*. Overall, he's ready to take on a contract."

  "Great, you're free to take on a contract." The receptionist smiles, "The firing range is open for you to use at any time."

  Inside the General Sector...

  'Which contract to pick.' Ataraxia's eyes darted between holographic screens dispying contracts ranging from hunting a wild boar to clearing some terrorists along the A75, 'Why not a terrorist extermination? Nothing like some killing to get the nerves running.'

  Elimination Contract:

  Eliminate terrorists holding hostages along the A75.

  Note: They are inside a tunnel, with police attempting to negotiate outside.

  Pay: 1000 credits

  Requester: Jonathan Steen

  For further enquiries, call: xxxx xxx xxxx

  #Terrorists contract.#

  "Sure, you seem ready for it. If you can kill people on the other side, you shouldn't have any problems killing faux humans." Mumei voiced her opinion as Ataraxia grabbed the chip for the request.

  "See you ter then." Orion bid goodbye as Ataraxia and Mumei approached a terminal to accept the contract. "We're accepting the escort contract."

  "As you wish boss!" Sally enthusiastically obeyed as she followed Orion to another terminal.

  #So where's the A75?#

  "Follow this road and take the first left turn. Then take the right turn about 25 miles ter. Afterwards, another left turn at the roundabout and we should be on the A75 road. It would maybe take about three days to finish the contract since we also have to find the outws, as well as kill them." Mumei gave her directions before following up with a suggestion. "We could ask the employer for a vehicle. While it may result in a pay cut, it would kill much of the time travelling to and fro."

  #Sure. Help me rey that to them.#

  As Mumei obliged and began reying to the requester, Ataraxia checked her sniper rifle. She pulled the bolt back and looked into the chamber. Seeing no round inside, she unloaded the current magazine.

  'Magazine is fully loaded.' Ataraxia thought as she began to unload the bullets. 'A 7-round magazine with .308 Winchester.'

  Loading the bullets back into the magazine, she fed the mag back into the magwell and cycled the bolt, loading a round into the chamber.

  "I'm done. Jonathan's giving us a car. Says we can keep it if it comes back unscathed, as a welcome gift, and get his daughter back safely." Mumei said as she got off the phone. "He's deducting 250 credits from the total though."

  "Sure but you're driving." A genderless AI voice said from Ataraxia's phone. Using the text-to-speech function, she could project what she said.

  "Great, let's get this show on the road." Mumei hummed as a white sedan was air-dropped behind her by an unmanned helicopter, causing a puff of dust. There were no indications of what brand the sedan was. The interior was bck with white accents. Laying on the back seats were two earpieces and a pair of radios "Ready to go?"

  "Yes. I am never using text to speech again." Ataraxia's phone read out as she sat down in the passenger seat, with her rifle lying on the back seats, with the safety on, next to the gear Jonathon graciously provided the duo.

  "Why not?" Mumei asked.

  #Typing on a phone is bothersome.#

  "Don't make me read any of your notes whilst I'm driving." Mumei jokingly cautioned as she turned the key.

  #Stop the car about 1/2 a mile from the targets.#

  "Sure," Mumei said as they drove to A75.

  On the A75...

  "Listen. I don't know how many times I gotta repeat this, but I'll say this again. Free our boss and we'll free the civies!" One of the outws inside a road tunnel that cut through a mountain, with a dual carriageway* leading into it. shouted. In front of the road tunnel were cars strewn about, abandoned by the hostages in their attempt to escape from the outws.

  "And we're telling you to put your guns down and surrender!" Someone outside the tunnel, seemingly an officer, shouted back from the safety of a police car. "You're outnumbered!"

  "And we outgun you!" Another outw yelled, his voice echoing off the walls as he quickly popped his head out for a gnce at the officers' armaments. "Who the hell brings pistols to arrest folks with M4A1s and the like? Ya must be idiots."

  Not having a response, the officer decided to repeat what he said before, "Like I said, drop your weapons and come out with your hands up!"

  "No!" A different outw shouted.

  "So when should we intervene?" Mumei asked, leaning on a white sedan on the side of the road 1/2 a mile away from the tunnel.

  *BANG*

  "WHICH ONE OF YOU IDIOTS FIRED THE GUN?" A voice screeched from inside the tunnel, suppressing the waves of screams that erupted from the hostages.

  "OI! THE DEAL WAS THAT YOU DON'T FIRE THE GUNS AND WE LET YOU LEAVE!" The negotiator shouted in arm at the shot.

  #Now. I'm sick of these idiots repeatedly yelling at each other.#

  "You want me with you or stay in the car?"

  #In the car. You have no weapons, what would you even do if you followed me?#

  "Fine. Good luck then." Mumei said with a slight pout as she sat back in the driver's seat before muttering - assuming Ataraxia can't hear her, "Do you not see that I want to help?"

  'It's gonna be a shit show in there, especially with my subpar aim and ck of an eye.' Ataraxia thought as she eyed the Ballista in the back seat with a forced smile, distracting herself from her previous thought. 'Should I bring it? It'll slow me down in the close quarters but there's no telling when I might need to pick off targets from a range. Mmmhhh, yeah sure. Why not.'

  Before picking up the Ballista, Ataraxia racked the PIT VIPER, loading a round into the chamber.

  Hearing Mumei's muttering, Ataraxia considerd the risks before ultimately letting her join the operation.

  #You know what, take the Ballista and follow behind me from a distance. Provide sniper support or something. You can set up on one of the abandoned cars. Take one of the radios and the earpieces. You know morse code right?# Ataraxia shoved the notepad into the driver's window.

  "Of course." Mumei said with glee as she rolled the window down.

  #Great, let's go then.# Ataraxia said as she calibrated the radio to her headset.

  idontknowwhatimdoing