Kevin & Darcy | Sniper Training
Jul. 19th, 2023 12:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsKevin (as Nora) finally gives Darcy her long anticipated first lesson with the sniper rifle. It doesn't go horribly.
Darcy was in full uniform for once, tac pants and steel-toed boots with her leather jacket unzipped and showing off the vibrant teal tank-top underneath. "Boss," she greeted with a grin as she came to a stop beside Kevin. There was a closed case on a bench in front of him, and she bounced lightly on her toes trying to keep her obvious interest and excitement down to something manageable. She had no idea at all if she'd have the aptitude to do this, but she was eager to learn, regardless. Worst case, maybe she could learn to spot, help be the eyes in the sky sometimes.
"Darcy." For once, Kevin was in Nora's form, in a not dissimilar outfit. She tapped the case with one immaculate fingernail. "Time to get someone naked."
"Well, since you ask so nicely..." Darcy gave the redhead a cheeky wink, shimmying her jacket part-way off her shoulders before straightening up. "Show me what we're working with here?"
"I meant the case, Greedy. Open it up. Can you tell me what it is?"
"Are you sure you meant the case? Boo." Darcy was sure Nora could hear her amusement as she bent forward and carefully unlatched the case. "Well Boss, I'd say this is a big damn rifle, not designed for recreational hunting." Her fingertips ran over the metal, the flat black blending nicely into the dark grey of the interior. "Make, model, barrel size... you know that's not my forte. Tell me about it."
"This is an Accuracy International AXSR. Newer company. They decided not to compete with the names and history of their competitors. Instead, they focused on making a rifle that put bits of metal through the brains of people a long, long way away." Nora said, lifting it from the case with a touch of reverence. "But that isn't the best part. That's the scope I put on it; a Stark 6-24x50 AOE with custom VI. It is a scope that I would marry if it wasn't against the laws of God and man. I have no idea how, but it incorporates everything in the shot projection. It's now ten years old, since Stark exited the commercial weapons market, but there is nothing better."
"You keep talking like that and I'm gonna get jealous," Darcy teased. She was glad she'd worn her contacts for this, and she scooted closer to see things up close as Nora pointed them out, particularly careful with the scope. "Custom VI, I'm guessing then it accounts for eyesight and possibly visibility at minimum without needing manual adjustment? What about wind and other weather factors?"
"It has a chip called a sniffer that incorporates distance and atmospheric effects. The scope's eyepiece has an active laser scanner that adjusts for the specific eye sighting through it. It won't make you a better shot, but it will cut out all of the potential factors and distractions. I own two. You get one to borrow for now. The other is mine." Nora said. "Pick up the rifle. Brace it against your shoulder."
"Mm, sweet, sweet beautiful tech, come to mama. You spoil me rotten, Nora." Darcy did as she was told though, picking up the rifle and bracing it against her shoulder. It was significantly heavier than the Marlin 336 she'd been taught to use, but she handled it with confidence. "Time to add more arm workouts to my routine."
"In general, you should never be firing this unbraced." He flipped out the bipod along the stock and motioned to the small mound of dirt with the gym mat behind it. "Lie down here, set the bipod on the mound, brace it against your shoulder and then sight ahead of you. Remember, the scope will adjust the magnification, so move the rifle in slow arcs. Zoom is both voice activated and controlled on the left side toggle. Tell me what you see."
She laid the gun down in the case carefully for a moment, taking the time to zip up her jacket and make sure she still had good mobility before picking it back up and following the other woman's directions. Bipod placed securely on the mound, body as flat as she could along the gym mat, the butt of the rifle braced against her shoulder as she stretched just enough to see into the scope. A few seconds of adjusting the toggle had her seeing pretty far down the lane, far more than she was used to with just her regular eyesight and a handgun. "Whoa," she breathed out as her eyes took in the new sights. "There's a board loose at the end of the lane on the right hand side. The color's mismatched. And there are a few targets, some with numbers and some with faces. Different positions."
"Good. The numbers are range indications. Unfortunately we only have three hundred metres here, but it's a reasonable start." Nora looked out, her eyes adjusting to almost a raptor look as she shifted their physical form to allow her enhanced vision. "There are six targets with faces. Three are innocents, three are your targets. They're roughly a hundred metres out. You have four shots to successfully identify and hit all three targets. If you miss one, the extra shot must happen within the next two seconds. Understood?"
"Is this a guessing game like in Men in Black, or will the targets be more obvious than that?" Darcy asked, settling into a slow breathing pattern that had her calmly staring down the sightlines. Nothing else mattered in the moment, just the right targets, Nora's soothing voice in her ear, and the steady combination of her own breathing in time with the thump of her heartbeat. She searched for each of the faces as she waited for a response, trying to suss out which ones were the threat. An older man that she'd been made aware of was the older Nathaniel Essex after the matter with Laurie was probably a target. Sebastian Shaw could go either way. She didn't recognize the first woman she saw, but the second was one of Stacy's workers. The last two were Laurie and Quire.
"Tempus is fugit-ting, Lewis." Nora said, wanting to add a little time pressure to her decision making.
That answered that. In. Out. In. She squeezed on the inhale, missing Essex by just a hair. Another count, another squeeze on the inhale, a bullet just above the clavicle. The obvious two, or no? Bullet three went through Laurie's eyeball, and while Darcy was pleased at the accuracy somewhere deep down, she merely let out a quiet hum of breath as she focused for number four.
A scraping sound as she started to pull had her instinctively rolling, the bullet missing the unknown woman by a wide margin and instead traveling farther down the lane and clipping Quire in the side of the face. Darcy was rolled onto her back, hands sparking up at Nora as she looked for the source of the sound she'd heard.
Nora finished lighting her cigarette before dropping the match next to her and stashing the matchbook back in her pocket. She took a long drag and let it out in a perfect triplet of rings before looking back down. "Sniping isn't just about accuracy and precision. It's about focus. Nothing gets between you and your attention on your target."
Darcy scowled but nodded, the crackle of electricity in the air disappearing as she shook out her hands and let them rest on the seemingly decorative metal plates on her jacket. "Did I at least hit the right people, other than that last one?" she asked, already rolling back into position to do the exercise again.
"The last one was accurate, if unintentionally so. Come on, I'm going to at least let you blow off a bit of steam. However, missing Essex at a hundred metres with that weapon is pretty bad. You weren't riding the trigger and it jerked at the end."
Darcy tossed a wink over her shoulder before settling back into position, rifle braced against her shoulder. "It's probably for the best that I'm not some sort of prodigy with this. Could you imagine? Nations would weep, and you'd be too hot under the collar to function. Again?"
"I'm not going out there to move the targets. Let's see you do it quickly, since you now know where they all are." Nora said, taking another drag.
"Yes ma'am," she sassed, taking a few seconds to sink back into the quiet. She was determined this time to not let anything distract her. Slow breaths, a steady squeeze, and Quire's smirk had a gap in it. Focus adjust, breathe. Squeeze. A slight jerk, and she hit Laurie in the chin instead of the other eye like she'd been aiming for. Three breaths, nice and slow. She wasn't sure why the farthest target was easiest, but another adjustment and a hole appeared in Essex's neck. Not what she wanted, but cleaner than the last.
"It's a start. You're still trying to anticipate the recoil and the trigger point as opposed to settling into them." She squatted down and placed a tray next to her with six more eight shot clips. "So let's work our way through these before we call it a day. I want to absorbing the kick as your finger completes the shot at the same time."
"Suggestions for that?" Maybe her shoulder wasn't bracing quite right, but she'd rather pick Nora's brain than blind guess. Darcy ejected the spent cartridge and slid the new one in. "And parameters for this time? Accuracy and speed, or do you want me to call and hit my shots like in pool?"
"Ride the trigger point, not the pull. You should be squeezing right up to the edge of the pin until you take your shot and when you do, bury into the stock." Nora said, pointing out to the target. "Past that, turn the targets into swiss cheese. This is just lesson one. Lots of time for this to get more complicated. Let's keep it simple for today."
"You're the Boss." She flicked her fingers out, briefly brushing them over Nora's ankle before settling back into position, the butt of the rifle slipping a little lower, more securely tucked against her shoulder. Focus on riding the point, not the pull then. Slow, deep breath, a squeeze that followed through all the way, keep things in line, compact. A hole appeared in Essex's left eye. Again. She was deliberate in her shots, probably a little slower than Nora wanted, but she was focusing on precision and minimal recoil adjustments over speed this round.
"Better. Again." Kevin was a taskmaster when it came to weapons training and it seemed Nora was no different. "The weapon should be an extension of you in every way. The scope is your eye, the barrel is your arm and the trigger... that is your wish to make someone die."
"Wish I'd been able to do this in Marsabit," Darcy grumbled. Only lightly, and almost entirely because having those damn things in her face had made it surprisingly difficult to shoot without bringing the entire horde in their direction. She took Nora's direction readily, exchanging another empty clip for a full one and working on her shots again. Forehead. Nose. Eye. Cheek. Throat. Chest. Change clip. Granted, if she'd been sniping there, they'd have missed out on some data. And she might've been the one yanked out of the 'bird instead.
"Not the right environment for a sniper. In that case, I wished I had a 50 cal mounted on a hard point and all the ammo I could store." Nora said. "The best environment for the sniper is quiet distance. Somewhere you can just watch for as long as you need before taking your shot."
Darcy tipped her head briefly in acknowledgement. "Sure, but close quarters wasn't much better for it. I need to learn some weapons that aren't my fists, a taser, or a gun. Maybe something I can channel electricity through. After, though. What's the likelihood that more of our missions will have me in that position, really? Actually, forget I asked that. Fucking Murphy." The compression on this sports bra was great, her boobs weren't even sore yet. She focused on her target through the scope. Two shots, one in the chin, one in the third eye. Adjust to the next target, repeat. Finally to Essex and repeat. Deliberate, moving with the slight upward jerk she tended to make. Probably not ideal.
"Oh, please tell me you're not about to train with the sword or something equally silly." Nora said with a groan. "it is incredibly rare that a gun or a decent knife isn't enough."
Darcy laughed as she ejected the fifth cartridge. "I don't know, I could probably bring the bayonet back," she teased. "Good ancillary weapon. Brass knuckles, maybe just more training with making and using ad hoc weapons? I can get a pretty nasty swing with one of those solid office staplers."
"Don't laugh. I can fuck up a lot of people with a proper bayonet." Nora said. "But if you want improvised weapons, I can hook you up. The best weapon is one that isn't improvised though."
"I'm only laughing because it'd be difficult to hide. I'm open to suggestions. For improv I just want to get better at thinking "weapon" for the things in the environment around me. Speed up my reaction time, that sort of thing." Darcy slid the last cartridge in and settled back down, going from closest to farthest. Cheeks, the tip of the nose, eyes she hadn't yet shot through. She was thinking more about placement this time, soft tissue without thick bones in the way to break through or deflect. Of course, everything was academic until she was in the field using it, as she kept learning. Still. The better prepared she was now, hopefully the better prepared she'd be when it was time to go live.
"I knew a couple of people who could make anything a weapon. Any place a battleground. But it's specialized training that you don't have time for." Nora said, collecting the clips. "Be a better sniper first, and we'll go from there."
"I think I would've had to have started training for that well before we ever knew I was a mutant to have time for it. I don't need to be the best or even amazing at it, I just don't want to freeze up when I need to be moving and surviving." Darcy moved into a sitting position, ejecting the last clip and handing it over before she pushed to her feet. "Alright, I'm ready for your critique. I mean, beyond what you've been doing."
"Nope. You shot your shot. My further critique is next time we're out. You did good today, Lewis. You can take the win."
"Flattery will get you everywhere, Boss." Darcy busied herself putting the rifle and scope away, but snaked an arm around Nora's waist once she was close enough to give a proper hug. "Thanks for today's lesson." Unsaid, the gratefulness to Gabriel that Kevin hadn't been stolen away by the zombies, and then Kevin's own willingness to come and check up on her. The talk and bribe had been enough to get her into a better place, mentally. "Have I told you today that you're my favorite?"
"Of course. I'm the only one that you can steal clothes that fit from."
"That's not why you're my favorite, gorgeous. But it's a lovely bonus. Your wardrobe is a treasure."
Darcy was in full uniform for once, tac pants and steel-toed boots with her leather jacket unzipped and showing off the vibrant teal tank-top underneath. "Boss," she greeted with a grin as she came to a stop beside Kevin. There was a closed case on a bench in front of him, and she bounced lightly on her toes trying to keep her obvious interest and excitement down to something manageable. She had no idea at all if she'd have the aptitude to do this, but she was eager to learn, regardless. Worst case, maybe she could learn to spot, help be the eyes in the sky sometimes.
"Darcy." For once, Kevin was in Nora's form, in a not dissimilar outfit. She tapped the case with one immaculate fingernail. "Time to get someone naked."
"Well, since you ask so nicely..." Darcy gave the redhead a cheeky wink, shimmying her jacket part-way off her shoulders before straightening up. "Show me what we're working with here?"
"I meant the case, Greedy. Open it up. Can you tell me what it is?"
"Are you sure you meant the case? Boo." Darcy was sure Nora could hear her amusement as she bent forward and carefully unlatched the case. "Well Boss, I'd say this is a big damn rifle, not designed for recreational hunting." Her fingertips ran over the metal, the flat black blending nicely into the dark grey of the interior. "Make, model, barrel size... you know that's not my forte. Tell me about it."
"This is an Accuracy International AXSR. Newer company. They decided not to compete with the names and history of their competitors. Instead, they focused on making a rifle that put bits of metal through the brains of people a long, long way away." Nora said, lifting it from the case with a touch of reverence. "But that isn't the best part. That's the scope I put on it; a Stark 6-24x50 AOE with custom VI. It is a scope that I would marry if it wasn't against the laws of God and man. I have no idea how, but it incorporates everything in the shot projection. It's now ten years old, since Stark exited the commercial weapons market, but there is nothing better."
"You keep talking like that and I'm gonna get jealous," Darcy teased. She was glad she'd worn her contacts for this, and she scooted closer to see things up close as Nora pointed them out, particularly careful with the scope. "Custom VI, I'm guessing then it accounts for eyesight and possibly visibility at minimum without needing manual adjustment? What about wind and other weather factors?"
"It has a chip called a sniffer that incorporates distance and atmospheric effects. The scope's eyepiece has an active laser scanner that adjusts for the specific eye sighting through it. It won't make you a better shot, but it will cut out all of the potential factors and distractions. I own two. You get one to borrow for now. The other is mine." Nora said. "Pick up the rifle. Brace it against your shoulder."
"Mm, sweet, sweet beautiful tech, come to mama. You spoil me rotten, Nora." Darcy did as she was told though, picking up the rifle and bracing it against her shoulder. It was significantly heavier than the Marlin 336 she'd been taught to use, but she handled it with confidence. "Time to add more arm workouts to my routine."
"In general, you should never be firing this unbraced." He flipped out the bipod along the stock and motioned to the small mound of dirt with the gym mat behind it. "Lie down here, set the bipod on the mound, brace it against your shoulder and then sight ahead of you. Remember, the scope will adjust the magnification, so move the rifle in slow arcs. Zoom is both voice activated and controlled on the left side toggle. Tell me what you see."
She laid the gun down in the case carefully for a moment, taking the time to zip up her jacket and make sure she still had good mobility before picking it back up and following the other woman's directions. Bipod placed securely on the mound, body as flat as she could along the gym mat, the butt of the rifle braced against her shoulder as she stretched just enough to see into the scope. A few seconds of adjusting the toggle had her seeing pretty far down the lane, far more than she was used to with just her regular eyesight and a handgun. "Whoa," she breathed out as her eyes took in the new sights. "There's a board loose at the end of the lane on the right hand side. The color's mismatched. And there are a few targets, some with numbers and some with faces. Different positions."
"Good. The numbers are range indications. Unfortunately we only have three hundred metres here, but it's a reasonable start." Nora looked out, her eyes adjusting to almost a raptor look as she shifted their physical form to allow her enhanced vision. "There are six targets with faces. Three are innocents, three are your targets. They're roughly a hundred metres out. You have four shots to successfully identify and hit all three targets. If you miss one, the extra shot must happen within the next two seconds. Understood?"
"Is this a guessing game like in Men in Black, or will the targets be more obvious than that?" Darcy asked, settling into a slow breathing pattern that had her calmly staring down the sightlines. Nothing else mattered in the moment, just the right targets, Nora's soothing voice in her ear, and the steady combination of her own breathing in time with the thump of her heartbeat. She searched for each of the faces as she waited for a response, trying to suss out which ones were the threat. An older man that she'd been made aware of was the older Nathaniel Essex after the matter with Laurie was probably a target. Sebastian Shaw could go either way. She didn't recognize the first woman she saw, but the second was one of Stacy's workers. The last two were Laurie and Quire.
"Tempus is fugit-ting, Lewis." Nora said, wanting to add a little time pressure to her decision making.
That answered that. In. Out. In. She squeezed on the inhale, missing Essex by just a hair. Another count, another squeeze on the inhale, a bullet just above the clavicle. The obvious two, or no? Bullet three went through Laurie's eyeball, and while Darcy was pleased at the accuracy somewhere deep down, she merely let out a quiet hum of breath as she focused for number four.
A scraping sound as she started to pull had her instinctively rolling, the bullet missing the unknown woman by a wide margin and instead traveling farther down the lane and clipping Quire in the side of the face. Darcy was rolled onto her back, hands sparking up at Nora as she looked for the source of the sound she'd heard.
Nora finished lighting her cigarette before dropping the match next to her and stashing the matchbook back in her pocket. She took a long drag and let it out in a perfect triplet of rings before looking back down. "Sniping isn't just about accuracy and precision. It's about focus. Nothing gets between you and your attention on your target."
Darcy scowled but nodded, the crackle of electricity in the air disappearing as she shook out her hands and let them rest on the seemingly decorative metal plates on her jacket. "Did I at least hit the right people, other than that last one?" she asked, already rolling back into position to do the exercise again.
"The last one was accurate, if unintentionally so. Come on, I'm going to at least let you blow off a bit of steam. However, missing Essex at a hundred metres with that weapon is pretty bad. You weren't riding the trigger and it jerked at the end."
Darcy tossed a wink over her shoulder before settling back into position, rifle braced against her shoulder. "It's probably for the best that I'm not some sort of prodigy with this. Could you imagine? Nations would weep, and you'd be too hot under the collar to function. Again?"
"I'm not going out there to move the targets. Let's see you do it quickly, since you now know where they all are." Nora said, taking another drag.
"Yes ma'am," she sassed, taking a few seconds to sink back into the quiet. She was determined this time to not let anything distract her. Slow breaths, a steady squeeze, and Quire's smirk had a gap in it. Focus adjust, breathe. Squeeze. A slight jerk, and she hit Laurie in the chin instead of the other eye like she'd been aiming for. Three breaths, nice and slow. She wasn't sure why the farthest target was easiest, but another adjustment and a hole appeared in Essex's neck. Not what she wanted, but cleaner than the last.
"It's a start. You're still trying to anticipate the recoil and the trigger point as opposed to settling into them." She squatted down and placed a tray next to her with six more eight shot clips. "So let's work our way through these before we call it a day. I want to absorbing the kick as your finger completes the shot at the same time."
"Suggestions for that?" Maybe her shoulder wasn't bracing quite right, but she'd rather pick Nora's brain than blind guess. Darcy ejected the spent cartridge and slid the new one in. "And parameters for this time? Accuracy and speed, or do you want me to call and hit my shots like in pool?"
"Ride the trigger point, not the pull. You should be squeezing right up to the edge of the pin until you take your shot and when you do, bury into the stock." Nora said, pointing out to the target. "Past that, turn the targets into swiss cheese. This is just lesson one. Lots of time for this to get more complicated. Let's keep it simple for today."
"You're the Boss." She flicked her fingers out, briefly brushing them over Nora's ankle before settling back into position, the butt of the rifle slipping a little lower, more securely tucked against her shoulder. Focus on riding the point, not the pull then. Slow, deep breath, a squeeze that followed through all the way, keep things in line, compact. A hole appeared in Essex's left eye. Again. She was deliberate in her shots, probably a little slower than Nora wanted, but she was focusing on precision and minimal recoil adjustments over speed this round.
"Better. Again." Kevin was a taskmaster when it came to weapons training and it seemed Nora was no different. "The weapon should be an extension of you in every way. The scope is your eye, the barrel is your arm and the trigger... that is your wish to make someone die."
"Wish I'd been able to do this in Marsabit," Darcy grumbled. Only lightly, and almost entirely because having those damn things in her face had made it surprisingly difficult to shoot without bringing the entire horde in their direction. She took Nora's direction readily, exchanging another empty clip for a full one and working on her shots again. Forehead. Nose. Eye. Cheek. Throat. Chest. Change clip. Granted, if she'd been sniping there, they'd have missed out on some data. And she might've been the one yanked out of the 'bird instead.
"Not the right environment for a sniper. In that case, I wished I had a 50 cal mounted on a hard point and all the ammo I could store." Nora said. "The best environment for the sniper is quiet distance. Somewhere you can just watch for as long as you need before taking your shot."
Darcy tipped her head briefly in acknowledgement. "Sure, but close quarters wasn't much better for it. I need to learn some weapons that aren't my fists, a taser, or a gun. Maybe something I can channel electricity through. After, though. What's the likelihood that more of our missions will have me in that position, really? Actually, forget I asked that. Fucking Murphy." The compression on this sports bra was great, her boobs weren't even sore yet. She focused on her target through the scope. Two shots, one in the chin, one in the third eye. Adjust to the next target, repeat. Finally to Essex and repeat. Deliberate, moving with the slight upward jerk she tended to make. Probably not ideal.
"Oh, please tell me you're not about to train with the sword or something equally silly." Nora said with a groan. "it is incredibly rare that a gun or a decent knife isn't enough."
Darcy laughed as she ejected the fifth cartridge. "I don't know, I could probably bring the bayonet back," she teased. "Good ancillary weapon. Brass knuckles, maybe just more training with making and using ad hoc weapons? I can get a pretty nasty swing with one of those solid office staplers."
"Don't laugh. I can fuck up a lot of people with a proper bayonet." Nora said. "But if you want improvised weapons, I can hook you up. The best weapon is one that isn't improvised though."
"I'm only laughing because it'd be difficult to hide. I'm open to suggestions. For improv I just want to get better at thinking "weapon" for the things in the environment around me. Speed up my reaction time, that sort of thing." Darcy slid the last cartridge in and settled back down, going from closest to farthest. Cheeks, the tip of the nose, eyes she hadn't yet shot through. She was thinking more about placement this time, soft tissue without thick bones in the way to break through or deflect. Of course, everything was academic until she was in the field using it, as she kept learning. Still. The better prepared she was now, hopefully the better prepared she'd be when it was time to go live.
"I knew a couple of people who could make anything a weapon. Any place a battleground. But it's specialized training that you don't have time for." Nora said, collecting the clips. "Be a better sniper first, and we'll go from there."
"I think I would've had to have started training for that well before we ever knew I was a mutant to have time for it. I don't need to be the best or even amazing at it, I just don't want to freeze up when I need to be moving and surviving." Darcy moved into a sitting position, ejecting the last clip and handing it over before she pushed to her feet. "Alright, I'm ready for your critique. I mean, beyond what you've been doing."
"Nope. You shot your shot. My further critique is next time we're out. You did good today, Lewis. You can take the win."
"Flattery will get you everywhere, Boss." Darcy busied herself putting the rifle and scope away, but snaked an arm around Nora's waist once she was close enough to give a proper hug. "Thanks for today's lesson." Unsaid, the gratefulness to Gabriel that Kevin hadn't been stolen away by the zombies, and then Kevin's own willingness to come and check up on her. The talk and bribe had been enough to get her into a better place, mentally. "Have I told you today that you're my favorite?"
"Of course. I'm the only one that you can steal clothes that fit from."
"That's not why you're my favorite, gorgeous. But it's a lovely bonus. Your wardrobe is a treasure."
