Chapter 71 – Weapons Training

The hanger of the ship had one entire half of it cleaned out for their use. Thankfully, they didn't need it all. Everyone that was available stood around watching to see what The Doctor was going to teach Logan and little Tony. No one was certain, but the few people who knew the Doctor well were shocked he even had planned to do anything with a "weapon." He had always made it very clear how he felt about guns. They had all assumed that carried over to any sort of weapon.

A target hung on the wall. He walked back from it about eight meters to where Logan and little Tony stood. He turned, looked at the target on the wall, and then turned around and rubbed his hands together.

"Alright! First thing I'm going to show you is: how to throw a knife. You will need to hit the target over there on the wall. I'll demonstrate. It's extremely simple." He told them.

You could have heard a pin drop in the hanger. Everyone's eyes were on The Doctor. He put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a small box. He opened it, took out four knives and tossed the box on the table. He turned around and pointed at the crowd watching.

"If any of you want to come and learn, you're welcome to."

Rose held Sam and asked. "Why is my brother in this?"

"Pete asked me to teach him how to do this." The Doctor explained.

"Plus, it's cool!" Tony Tyler said.

Jack crossed his arms and smiled.

The Doctor showed them the knives he held in his hands. "These were custom made for me as a gift. The ones I'll have you lot use are supplied by the computer. They dissolve to keep from having any accidents. Imagine, virtual knives. You won't be able to tell the difference."

"Now, what you want in a throwing knife is that it is balanced. See these?" He sat one on top of his finger. "You want a knife that isn't too light, balanced in the middle, and really sturdy so it doesn't break easily. But, if you find you have to throw a knife that isn't balanced in the middle, you want to throw the heavy end first. Make sense?"

Logan nodded, "So, if it has a heavy blade…blade goes first."

The Doctor nodded his head. "Yes. If you can't tell, just throw it has if it was a balanced blade. It's probably close enough you will be fine. If it's a heavy knife, throw it a bit above where you intend to hit. Gravity will pull it down as it travels through the air. Lighter knives won't do that."

Jack yelled, "Oh, will you just throw the damn knife already?"

Lewis laughed at him.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Thing number two that people will do that is just wrong. They will aim. In a true case when you need to throw a blade, you won't have time to aim. Now, think about this. Be logical. You already know where the target is. Right?"

Logan looked at little Tony. They both shrugged their shoulders.

Tony smiled, "Well, yeah. It's just there."

The Doctor smiled. "Perfect. Point to it again."

Tony dropped his shoulders. "It's just there, John."

The Doctor turned quickly and threw all four of the knives at the target. Two with his right hand and the other two with his left. All four of them stuck inside of the bulls-eye on the target. He turned around and pointed at little Tony. "That's right, Comrade. I already knew where it was, so I didn't stop to aim."

The crowd shook in shock. Lewis turned and took Sam from Rose. "I'm afraid you might drop him, Rose."

Rose shook her head in disbelief. "Thank you, Lewis. Did I just see that?"

Jack shot his hand in the air. "Dude! Show me how to do that. That's fucking AWESOME!"

Tony was right on his heels. "Me, too."

The Doctor smiled. He looked at crowd. "Rose? Legate? Lewis? Lance?"

Legate smacked Lance in the chest. "Let's do this!"

Lewis turned to Rose. "Are you going to try, Rose?"

Rose shook her head. "I'm still in shock over what I just saw. You can go ahead and I'll mind Sam. Wow."

Lewis handed her Sam back and joined them.

The Doctor looked at everyone and rubbed his beard. "Friday. We're going to need eight targets in all with various knives for them to throw. Full safety's on everything, please. We don't want any accidents."

"Yes, Captain Han Solo." Friday said.

Tony and Jack laughed as they heard Friday's words.

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he looked at them. "Really?"

Stark held up his hands. "Genie made me. I swear, man."

Friday dimmed the lights in the hanger as eight targets appeared. Eight small tables appeared beside each one of the men. Each with various knives.

Logan rubbed his face. "Wow. They look so real. Are they really not real?"

The Doctor smiled. "No. They aren't real. They are safe to use. Go on." He leaned his head back. "These blades won't even cut you, boys. So, feel free to hold them tighter than you normally would hold a knife. Get very comfortable with it. Feel the weight in your hand." He pointed at little Tony. "But, don't treat any knives like this outside of this. Understand, Comrade?"

Tony held his hands out. "Why do you point at me? I'm not stupid."

Jack called to him. "Doc'. Does it matter, in your opinion, which way you throw these? I mean, overhand, to the side, from the bottom? What?"

"Some people like certain techniques for certain knives. For the small ones I just threw, I like the overhand method." He picked up a small knife from Legate's table and threw it at Legate's target. Hitting the bulls-eye again.

"For the bigger knives that are blade heavy. I like the underhand throw, while holding the blade." He picked up a bigger knife off of Logan's table and tossed it underhand to the target. He hit the bulls-eye again.

Stark leaned over and mumbled to Jack. "I think he's just showing off at this point."

Jack looked back at him and nodded his agreement.

"Now, blades from….ummm… where was that? Summus likes those knives. He said you throw them Lewis?" He had forgotten something again. Rose noticed.

Lewis nodded his head. "Oh! Kutrous knives! Is that it?"

The Doctor pointed at Lewis. "Yes! Those! Friday. Can you give us some Kutrous knives?"

Friday responded. "Of course, Captain Solo."

A curved, very jagged knife appeared on everyone's table.

Rose stood against the wall of the hanger, to the side of the class. The Doctor noticed Arla had walked up next to her. He turned around and pointed at Lewis again. "Everyone! Watch Lewis demonstrate how to throw the Kutrous knife. As you can see, it has a strange balance to it. So, he will have to do something different. Lewis, when you are ready."

Lewis took the knife. He looked at the target and twisted his arm around his back and flipped the knife out of his hand as he threw it. The Doctor had to admit, he looked completely deadly in that moment. He hit the bulls-eye of his target.

The Doctor looked back at Rose and Arla. Both were clearly impressed. The Doctor smiled. "Amazing, Lewis."

Logan looked at Lewis. "How to you keep from cutting your back when you throw like that?"

Lewis picked up the knife again. The computer had returned it to his table. He showed Logan how he held it against his back.

The Doctor smiled as he walked behind the class. "Alright. Go ahead and toss some. Make yourself very comfortable with these. They won't hurt you. Remember to throw it hard. You want it to stick in your target."

He walked over to Rose and Arla. "Sure you ladies don't want to join our little class?"

Arla shook her head and smiled. "No, thank you. Wow. Lewis is amazing!"

The Doctor looked back at Lewis and smiled. "That's the reason he guards me."

Rose smiled at him and said in his head, 'Making Lewis look good in front of his girlfriend?'

He looked at Rose and smiled. 'What are friends for?'

Arla looked proudly at Lewis as he threw the knives with everyone else. "I came to ask if you wanted Lewis and me to take the children sometime while we are there. Maybe take a night away from the ship. We'd be happy to watch them. Even Sam."

Rose smiled. "We talked about that, but I'm not comfortable leaving Sam for very long."

Arla smiled down at Sam. "I understand. Maybe take it slow first. Just go for a few hours."

One of the men yelled, "Doctor! Look at this kid. He's better at this than any of us."

The Doctor looked back at little Tony. He had almost hit the bulls-eye every time. Rose looked in surprised at him. "Tony! Really?"

Tony smiled back at Rose. "This is so much fun, Rose. Brother! Take my picture and send it to Daddy."

The Doctor walked back over to kneel down in front of Tony. He smiled at him. "You are really good at this. Don't get over confident though."

Tony nodded his head. "Sure thing."

"I'll make Pete a video. Alright?"

Tony was in his element. All of the other men stopped to watch him. "Welcome to the Tony Show! Today, my brother is teaching us how to throw a knife. Look at this! First rule is, you don't aim. You know where the target is." Tony picked up the knife, turned and threw it quickly. It stuck directly in the bulls-eye. He grabbed another one quickly and threw it. It stuck close to the bulls-eye, too. He turned around and pointed at the camera. "How you like me now?"

The Doctor stopped the video recording and laughed at Tony. Rose walked over with Arla and looked at her brother. "That's wild, Tony! Dad will flip!"

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "It's easy. Just put it in the target. Right, brother?"

The Doctor smiled. "Yeah. Wow."

Tony patted the Doctor's leg. "I'm done, right? I'm going to the Zero Gravity room with Genie and Jacob. See you later!"

The Doctor watched him as he ran out of the room. "Where the hell does he get that from? Can your mum throw a knife?"

Rose laughed as she shook her head. "Oh, God. I don't want to know!"

The Doctor shook his head in disbelief as he walked behind the men. "Let me help this lot. Wow. Tony Tyler. Damn."

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