Part 4 – Training – Part 1
As Naofumi approached the podium, he put on the best smile he could as he approached the mayor to shake his hand.
As they shook, the two of them turned towards the audience as the press started snapping pictures of the two of them.
After that, the Mayor ushered toward the podium, and Naofumi smiled before turning toward the audience.
"Captain Iwatani," they all exclaimed, "Captain Iwatani!"
"Yes," Naofumi said as he pointed at the reporter closest to the stage.
The reporter stood up and asked, "Captain, due to the town's recent problems with our previous tactical team, how do you plan on improving the town's opinion on a team like yours?"
"My first plan is to hire trainees from the area," Naofumi said, "Right now, I have already selected two recruits that were born and raised in this town to help me grow the numbers of this team."
"Can you identify them," she asked.
"Unfortunately, not at this time," Naofumi said, "It is standard procedure for HERO Brigade trainees to not be officially welcomed in until they have passed their Commanding Officer's screening process. Next question."
"Captain Iwatani," they all exclaimed.
"Yes," Naofumi said as he pointed at the reporter on the edge of the center aisle.
The reporter stood up, and Naofumi noticed how nice the red dress she was wearing that came up just above her knees looked, "Captain," she began, "As I understand, you were part of the Castletown unit that took part in the STAR Tower raid two days ago. Is that correct?"
"Yes," Naofumi said.
"As I understand, two members of your former unit were LAPD S.W.A.T. and FBI Strategic Response Unit," the reporter asked, "Can you tell us a little bit of your former experience?"
"I was a sniper in the U.S. Army before joining the brigade," Naofumi said, "But I'm afraid that's all I can reveal."
"What were you some kind of Green Beret Special Operator," the reporter asked.
"I never tried out for the Green Berets," Naofumi said, "Wanted to, never did."
"Can you explain," the reporter asked.
"Just always busy," Naofumi said, "Next question?"
"Captain Iwatani," they all exclaimed.
"Yes," Naofumi said as he pointed to a reporter in the back.
The reporter was wearing a completely gray suit with thick-rimmed glasses, "Captain Iwatani, will there be a noticeable difference between the way the HERO Brigade operates as opposed to the way that the town's previous team operated," he asked, "And I have a follow up if I may?"
"As to your first question, yes," Naofumi said, "There will be a noticeable difference in the way the previous team operated, compared to mine. Your follow up?"
"Before that, would you allow me to ask how," the reporter asked.
"Yes," Naofumi said, "The town's previous team was a tactical team. The objective of my team will be to use violence as a last resort. Our training will be focusing on psychological evaluation, using different approaches to make sure no harm comes to the hostages or to any civilians, and to make sure that we can get the hostiles to stand down so we can give them a fair trial. Now, your follow up?"
"My follow up is, do you think your team being in town will help lower the number of violent crimes that this town is seeing more and more of?"
Naofumi's response was simply, "Yes."
Following the press conference, Naofumi walked back to his office and made a call to the main office back in Castletown.
"HERO Brigade, please identify," the operator said.
"This is Naofumi," he said, "I need to order some equipment."
"Go ahead," the operator said.
As Naofumi set about ordering his equipment, he looked up to see his two recruits entering the room. They were wearing black-leather military-style-boots, navy-blue tactical pants, and black shirts with the HERO Brigade logo printed on the front.
"Make sure that gets here by tomorrow," Naofumi said, "If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to."
As he walked outside, he saw that the pictures that were included with the files didn't do Raphtalia justice: a face like a supermodel, curves that could have come from some sort of cartoon, and very luxurious, flowing red hair. She was unbelievably beautiful.
The man next to her, Fohl stood proud and poised like a soldier waiting to hear from his Commanding Officer.
Naofumi stood in front of the two of them, "Well," he said as he looked at Fohl, "Introduce yourself, Tiger."
Fohl went first, "Sir, Recruit Fohl Renaux," he said, "Former member of 5th Special Forces Group. Bomb disposal. Ready for duty, sir!"
"Well received," Naofumi said before looking at Raphtalia, "What about you, Beauty Queen?"
"Sir, Recruit Raphtalia Tanuki," Raphtalia said, "Former member of Rock Valley City Police. Ready for duty sir!"
"It's good to see that you two can take orders" Naofumi sad, "They trained you well. But this is not the Army or the Rock Valley Police. Right now, I don't know what you can do. It'll be up to you to show me. We don't have the go-ahead to start operating because we don't have a full team. You two show me you have what it takes to be in the Brigade, and the next choice of recruits is up to you."
"Sir," Fohl said, "How do we do that, sir?"
"You'll see," Naofumi said.
One hour later…
The Castle Valley Sheriff's Department Gun Range located twelve miles west of the city in a large open field.
So far they were the only people out there, and someone from the Brigade who obviously supplied the weapons.
"Captain," the man said as Naofumi walked up to him.
"Eric," Naofumi said before turning to Raphtalia and Fohl, "Recruits, this is Sergeant Eric Ramirez. One of Brigade's weapon masters," he then looked back at Eric, "You bring the stuff?"
"You know it," Eric said as he walked over to the table, and placed two weapon cases on top.
Naofumi unlocked the cases, and opened them to show off two M4 rifles, with M68 Aimpoint red dot sights, "Standard-issue for the brigade," he said as he picked up to magazines, and walked up to them, holding them upright, "You get one magazine, thirty rounds. You don't get to miss," he held them out like they were candy bars, and both Fohl and Raphtalia took them.
They walked up to the rifles, loaded them, and as they charged the guns, Naofumi walked up to them as they put on their ear protection and ballistic glasses.
As he put on his ear protection and glasses, Fohl spoke up, "Ready, sir!"
"Recruit Tanuki," Naofumi said, "Are you ready?"
"Yes sir," Raphtalia said.
"Good," Naofumi said, "Shoulder weapons," they aimed, "Commence firing," he hit the buzzer the range had to signal the range was hot.
"Firing," Fohl said.
As they began firing, Naofumi noticed that Raphtalia was shooting really close to the bullseye, meanwhile, Fohl was focusing on the critical kill areas.
Naofumi walked over to Fohl, "The rifle fires 5.56 rounds at 2900 feet-per-second, the projectile weighs sixty-two grains," he said, noticing that Fohl was keeping his eyes on the target, "What's that in meters, what's that in grams?"
"844 meters-per-second, and a little over four grams," Fohl said.
Naofumi simply nodded before he walked over to Raphtalia, "That gun is zeroed at one hundred yards, standard conditions at sea level," he said, "At further distances, the bullet begins to drop. What's the drop at two hundred yards?"
"3.8 inches at 200," Raphtalia said.
"Double the weight of the round," Naofumi said, "What's the drop?"
"3.8 inches," Raphtalia said, "The drop is constant, muzzle velocity isn't."
As they emptied their last rounds, Naofumi smiled, "Not bad," he said as he walked up to the targets before examining them, and after examining them, he pointed to Fohl's, "You have a profound understanding of kill spots. You were a designated marksman weren't you?"
"Yes sir," Fohl said.
Naofumi then walked over to Raphtalia, "You've been shooting for half your life haven't you, Beauty Queen," he asked.
"My father taught me, sir," Raphtalia said.
Naofumi reached into his pocket, pulled out two items, and handed them to the two of them, "Welcome to the Brigade," he said as Raphtalia and Fohl noticed that they were both hold the chrome-colored badge of HERO Brigade Officers.
"Thank you, Captain," Fohl said.
"All that's left is for you two to recruit another two," Naofumi said, "Then we have our team. Call up two people you know that have any kind of military or police training, and get them here, now."
"Now," Raphtalia asked.
"Now," Naofumi said, "We need a team, and we need it now. Get started."
Half an hour later, two cars pulled up, the first was a beautiful Caucasian woman with long, black hair about Raphtalia's height wearing a very tight-fitting shirt covered by a vest, a pencil skirt, right leggings, and low-height high-heels.
The second was another woman, about five-foot-two, long white hair with black strands, much similar to the hair that Fohl had, obviously her sister.
"Raphi," the black-haired woman said as she pranced up to Raphtalia, and hugged her tightly.
"Sade," Raphtalia said as she hugged her back.
"Hey bro," the white and black-haired girl said as she walked up to Fohl.
"Hey Atla," Fohl said.
Naofumi approached, and spoke up, "You two going to introduce me?"
"Captain Iwatani," Raphtalia said as she gestured to the girl she called, "This is Sadeena Smith. She was my partner in the Military Police and later in the department before she was kicked out for saving my life by shooting a suspect that the department deemed was not justified."
Naofumi walked up to her, she was sexy as hell, but she looked like a model rather than a cop.
He then looked over to the Fohl's sister, "This the sister you joined the army to pay for treatment for," he asked.
"Yes sir," Fohl said, "This is Alta Renaux, my little sister."
"What prior experience do you have," Naofumi asked.
"I volunteered with resource officers at several schools since I was twelve, and studied negotiation tactics with the FBI at Quantico," Alta said.
"How old are you," Naofumi asked.
"Nineteen," Alta said.
"Nineteen," Naofumi said, "And you've studied negotiating with the FBI?"
"She graduated college at sixteen," Fohl said, "She's a smart one."
"Can you fire a gun," Naofumi asked.
"Me and Fohl are the children of a former Marine," Alta said, "We've both grown up around guns, and I know how to fire a gun."
Naofumi then looked over at Sadeena, "And you, supermodel," he asked, "Can you fire a gun?"
"I was a top-ranked rifleman during my time at basic training," Sadeena said, "I earned numerous awards for it."
Naofumi turned his attention to the table where the rifles Raphtalia and Fohl just shot were located, "There are your guns then," he said as he gestured toward the table, "Thirty rounds, you don't get to miss."
Sadeena and Alta walked up to the firing line, and as they put on their ear and eye protection, Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Fohl did the same.
"Let's see how they do," Fohl said.
The two of them charged their weapons, and Naofumi spoke up, "Shoulder weapons," the charged the guns, and raised them to their shoulders, "Commence firing!"
Naofumi walked over to Sadeena, she had her selector on full-auto and was firing in bursts rather than holding down the trigger.
He then walked over to Alta, she had switched her selector to semi-auto.
Once the weapons locked open, Sadeena simply placed hers down while Alta ejected the magazine, and placed it on the table.
Naofumi and the others walked up to the targets, Sadeena's shots were inside the outline of the target, but everywhere, and Alta's shots were very closely grouped in the center, like her brother's.
"Not bad," Raphtalia said as she slapped Sadeena on the shoulder.
"Indeed," Naofumi said as he walked over to Sadeena's target, "You know how to stay on target, but you seem to just want to pull the trigger and get those rounds down range as fast as you can."
"It's what they taught us in the Army," Sadeena said.
"This isn't the Army," Naofumi said, "Can you learn to slow down?"
"Yes," Sadeena said.
"Ok," Naofumi said as he walked over to Alta's target, "Meanwhile, this side of the spectrum shows promise. Your father trained you and your brother didn't he?"
"Yes," Alta said.
"Good," Naofumi said before reaching into his pocket, and pulling out two more badges, "You're both in."
It was then that a large black Escelade pulled into the shooting range of the lot along with two Rock Valley PD officers on motorcycles.
"Here it comes," Raphtalia said.
The person that stepped out of the Escelade was none other than Raphtalia's father, Mayor Tanuki.
As he walked up to them, Mayor Tanuki looked at his daughter, and spoke, "Raphtalia."
"Hi daddy," Raphtalia said.
Mayor Tanuki then turned his attention to Noafumi, "When were you going to tell me you hired my daughter," he asked.
"When she passed requirements for the brigade," Naofumi said.
"And did she," Mayor Tanuki asked.
"Yes," Naofumi said.
"Then why didn't I hear from you," Mayor Tanuki asked.
"Because we just finished finding our other two members," Naofumi said.
"Indeed," Mayor Tanuki said as he looked at Fohl, Alta, and Saddeena, "Five members?"
"It's all we're going to need," Naofumi said.
"Is training over," Mayor Tanuki asked.
"For today," Naofumi said, "Yes. There'll be more tomorrow."
"Indeed," Mayor Tanuki sad, "You have more bullets so I can have a go with those rifles?"
Naofumi and Raphtalia looked at the mayor, and smiled, "You many do you want to fire?"
More training is to come…