"Alright, listen up! Today's session is a basic firearms test. You will first have four close-range targets at position one!" Batou indicated the map sitting on the table that currently had all of the Serburo M5 9mm's and spare ammunition. "Next, you will run to position two, where two moving targets will be here, and another two here." He indicated both locations with his finger. "Position three is the house, you enter through the front door. On the first floor, you will have three target, and two hostages. Do I even have to say it?" He looked up at the gather recruits, with Stella off to one side near the front. "Second floor has a similar situation. Four hostages, four targets. After that, drop down the ladder and take out the last five stationary targets that pop up as you return to position one. This entire exercise is a timed three minute scenario, and it will be run solo. These Serburo's hold twenty rounds, so unless you screw the hell up, you shouldn't need to reload. But, that doesn't mean I won't throw in a few surprises along the run, so grab what you think you'll need for ammo."
Stella knew that he was going to pull out all the stops for her run, so she smirked as she filed into the line of recruits collecting their ammo and pistols from the table.
As the line of recruits dwindled, Stella adjusted the straps of the holster on her leg. She already made sure to at least appease Batou by taking two extra magazines, but given her martial arts capability, she shouldn't really need to just use her gun. And she had no doubts that he would be watching the whole time through some sensors or cameras.
"Alright, alright... I heard two extra shots, so you had to reload at least once, huh?" Batou documented the latest recruit's attempt. "Alright, unload the pistol and turn in the ammo. NEXT!"
It was the guy ahead of Stella's run now. She put her hand onto her hip, just above the two ammo pouches on the belt she was using for the holster.
The recruit's run went well, then Batou turned to Stella with a smirk tugging at his lips. Up until now, he hadn't thrown any surprises at the recruits at all.
"Alright, Stella-chan, let's see if you've got what it takes." He was grinning from ear to ear now, so Stella moved to the starting position and unholstered the Serburo on her leg.
The first four targets popped up, and she immediately brought them into the sights, firing a single clean headshot into each one before running to position two, already firing at the first pair of sliding targets. She swung the pistol to the next location, and saw that Batou had increased their movement speed quite a lot. She quickly fired, hitting the first in the center of the chest, and adjusted her aim to hit the second in the head just before it moved behind some cover.
The house was next, and she sprinted through the door and quickly aimed the gun inside, finding two white targets partially blocking the usual black ones. With ease she took them both out and suddenly had an instinctive feeling that Batou was interfering again.
Without wasting a second, she swung her leg around in a spectacular sweeping high kick, knocking off the third target's head as it was launched towards her from the side.
With that surprise out of the way, Stella charged up the stairs, directing her Serburo around the first corner, only to find that the upper floor was four rooms and a single central hallway.
Without further ado, Stella flattened her back against the side of the first room, swinging herself around the frame with the Serburo in one hand, already lining up the sights with the black target, only to have it suddenly switch colours and turn white.
Stella didn't stop the movement she had going, so with an elegant spin on her heel, she directed the gun into the next room, finding two targets and no hostage. Two taps, and she had her back to the third room, swinging the gun around the frame as she dropped to one knee, her hair blowing from the near miss of the third target. She easily took it down and and spun around as she stood up, bringing her other hand onto the Serburo's grip and aimed at the fourth target, delivering a precise headshot before diving headfirst out the window with the ladder, rolling upon impact and smoothly standing up.
As she ran to the end, she saw that Batou was smirking in the distance again, so she quickly reacted as her targets started to pop up... and move.
Five shots, and all five were down. She ran to the end and held the Serburo out to Batou by the barrel.
"Thanks for the little bit of cardio, Batou... But I'm still going to need my actual workout, if I want to actually break a sweat. Nice try on the 'surprises' by the way." Stella unhooked her holster and belt, dropping them onto the table as she waved with one hand over her shoulder, a cheeky smile on her face as she left the training floor.
"Wait, Mr. Batou... She wasn't even a real recruit?!" One of them asked, awestruck by the impressive display by the black haired female cyborg.
"No, she's not." Batou glanced at her final time. She'd finished the entire mock up in ninety four seconds... "See, she's not even doing it for real, and she got a better time than any of you! She did that run in ninety four seconds! She took down all the targets and still had ammo to spare! Come on! That is how you do this! And she did it with interference from me!" He called to the recruits, very few of whom had any significant cybernetics like Stella did. "And she's only nineteen!"
Stella sat in the Tachikoma hangar a short time later, perched quite sassily atop a box, listening to the Tachikoma's have a rather philisophical debate. She was leaning back very slightly, both arms supporting herself and her legs crossed at the knee. She really liked the Tachikoma's, they were very child-like and exciteable, but very smart and eager to learn.
"Oh, are they debating life and death again?" The Major asked suddenly, deactivating her Therm-Optic camo beside Stella, who gave no reaction this time, since she'd figured out by now to look for the distortion and listen for the humming.
"Seems that way." Stella flicked her hair out of her face, momentarily revealing the star birthmark above her eye.
"So, how'd it go with Batou?" The Major sat beside her on the crate.
"Too easy." Stella shook her head. "I heard him give the other recruits a lecture, saying that what I did was the way they should've done the exercise."
"I was there. Why do you think I was using my Therm-Optic camo just now?" The Major smiled. "You did a twenty target firearm exercise using only nineteen rounds. Not many recruits can do that, nor could they do it as quickly and effectively."
"So what do we do now? It's too early to eat, and I'm holding off for at least a little bit before I do my workout for today." Stella had a thoughtful expression on her face. She knew she'd run out of steam with her memories, so that was a bust. She'd just shown Batou up, and like she said, it was still early in the day for other things.
"You could join the Tachikoma debate..." The Major teased, but Stella shook her head.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not really the type for that sort of thing... Too much of a tomboy, I guess." Stella smiled at her last comment. "God, this amnesia is stupid. It's like... all my real memories are locked away, as if they aren't even there in my head anymore."
"Sounds to me like you have a Ghost, and it's whispering to you." The Major said sagely. "But you're right. Your amnesia is unusually disconnected between memories, and even then, they only come forth under specific stimuli."
"Hey, wait a second... Didn't you tell Batou to bring those guys here? The ones that tried to take me." Stella suddenly looked at the Major, a spark glinting in her eyes, but the Major held up her hand.
"You saw me shoot their legs. Until they're out of the hospital, they're not going anywhere. They are charged, and have local police keeping an eye on them in the meantime." The Major explained. "In any case, unless we have more evidence, or they confess during their interrogation, then they're a lost cause for your case. Just an isolated incident."
"Well, if that's the case..." Stella hopped off the crate suddenly. "Hey, I'm pretty sure it doesn't concern my case or anything... But I think I just remembered something about my life before... y'know, I became pedophile bait."
"What is it, Stella?" The Major knew to never overlook any details, but if it was as minor as Stella thought it was, it was still worth hearing.
"I just remember getting into martial arts because I got into a lot of fights at school... I don't really know if that helps, honestly, but I just thought it was worth sharing." Stella shrugged before asking. "Do you mind if I go back to the firing range? I had fun shooting that M5 you guys use."
"Tell you what, I think I can do you one better." The Major smiled. "Want to try an M-23?"
"Is that another kind of pistol?" Stella looked at her with keen interest. "I saw that Togusa's gun is different than the M5's... is his an M-23?"
The Major chuckled softly before simply saying. "Bigger."
