target range

[sucre'd fiend, master of the murderous arts]

Meant for the students that specialize with guns and throwing knives.

[[deleted user]]

It had been a long time since Sadie had actually been affected by the kick of the rifle. Now? She knew how to prepare for it. She wasn't exactly a large person, but that was okay; she had the muscle to make up for it.

That's kind of what happens when you go to a school like this.

Round after round after round -- and Sadie was pretty proud of herself; her accuracy had improved. Precision had never been terrible difficult for her. Consistency, though? That was key here. Setting the gun down, she switched on the moving targets. Because when you're killing someone? You can't just expect them to sit there and let you do it.

((Sorry it's short. I honestly don't have the energy to write a long post DX ))

[Jenna ⭐]

((It's okay :P I don't really have the drive to write much either, haha.))

Taking time out of his day to meet up with Sadie was nothing new to Aiden. They usually had some little date planned up (okay, not a date like a date-date, but a date like... yeah, nevermind) or get-together, but today it had just been the two of them going at the world by their own accord. Or at least, it was supposed to have been.

Standing there in the training room doorway, Aiden supposed he'd gone and ruined that. They weren't really supposed to meet up right now, but here he was anyways, just watching her as she expelled round after round. (That wasn't creepy or weird, right?) She was good, he knew, but it always brought a smile to his face when watching her practice like this -- as if she really needed the extra hours.

After a moment or two, he raised his hand and gave a little knock on the open door to announce his presence. A second later, he wondered if he should have done that at all -- maybe they needed stay away from each other for a bit considering they were always around each other -- but what the hell, right? He couldn't keep his distance for long anyways.

((Blargh, yeah XD Totally don't have the drive for anything long. Or good, haha.))

[[deleted user]]

Sadie lowered the rifle upon hearing the knock on the door. It really wasn't surprising that it was Aiden. In fact, she had no reason to be surprised about it at all. But those damn fluttery feelings shouldn't have been there. She did not have a crush on Aiden. They were just friends. And okay, maybe he was really attractive. But that didn't mean that she liked him. Well, of course she liked him -- they were friends. But she didn't like like him. All that it meant? She just happened to have a really hot best friend. And given the opportunity to bang him, Sadie wasn't sure she'd turn it down.

It was simple physical attraction. She was a heterosexual female, and he was an attractive male. It was completely normal. And besides -- she was a girl. It wasn't like she had to worry about a boner or anything along those lines. Nope; she wasn't about to feed Aiden's ego. Someone had to keep him humble, and Sadie had taken it upon herself to be that someone.

"Surprise seeing you here, Blondie," she said, setting the gun down completely and walking over to him. "Did you finally decide that guns are more efficient than snapping someone's neck with your bare hands?" Not that she ever wanted him to give up close range. They were partners, and things would stay that way. They had to be partners. Sadie was fairly certain she couldn't work that well with anyone else.

[Jenna ⭐]

"I'm sorry, what? Blondie?" He shook his head, but there was obviously a smile on his face. Aiden definitely had a love for teasing her, even if it was in the most brash way possible. She could take it, he knew, and even if there were times when the occasional stranger thought he was an inconsiderate, American hater, Aiden still persisted in poking fun at her expense. Besides, Sadie was the one to initiate it most of the time. Kind of.

Alright, so it usually was Aiden that started things off, but it wasn't that bad, right? He only did a few things to really drive her crazy, like making fun of her accent, nitpicking on the little American things she did, and he liked to use his seduction techniques against her... But all the rest of it was Sadie. He refused to believe otherwise.

Scrunching up his nose a bit out of false confusion, Aiden parted his lips to speak once more. "I think that's what you said, but I'm having a hard time understanding anything you say through that awful accent." That was their little running joke: he would never stop teasing her about that accent. It was so different from his and everyone else's that he couldn't help but use it against her.

[[deleted user]]

Sadie rolled her eyes at his comment. Of course. But then? He mentioned the accent. And yeah, Sadie knew she was the odd man out and was surrounded by Brits everywhere she looked. And this, of course, included Aiden. (And really, they probably wouldn't be friends, but he had more than a few redeeming qualities.) But yeah, no. She had that Boston accent (and really, she was a Bostonian; what, did you expect her to sound Jamaican or something?), and hell yeah, she rocked it. And really -- as far as she was concerned? It was the best accent around.

"Oh?" she said, doing her best impression of a posh British accent (and really, it was pretty good; she did pay attention in espionage class and let's just disregard the fact that she sounded a lot more like Mary Poppins than the average English citizen). "I'm sorry. I don't want to keep you here, confused by my accent. Because obviously you don't want to be late for your afternoon tea with the Queen."

She made a face, as if speaking with a different accent disgusted her -- which it did. Switching back to her native accent, she scoffed. "Hate to tell you, Aiden dear, but no matter how terrible you think my accent is, at least I don't sound like a prim and proper prick with a stick up my ass." She raised an eyebrow, challenging him. "And just admit it," she added, taking a step closer, closing in the proximity between them. "You love my accent."

[Jenna ⭐]

Aiden's brow furrowed in amusement at the accent she put on, and he could feel himself just barely holding back a laugh. "I do not sound like that. And even if I did, at least I would sound a lot better than you do. I might have a stick up my ass, but at least I didn't gargle any rocks." That was probably a bit of an exaggeration. Okay, a major exaggeration, but so was everything she said. Tea with the Queen: could you get any more stereotypical? He didn't do that just like she didn't ride on the back of eagles while stuffing her face with cheeseburgers. Not that he wouldn't have given her props if she did.

"I don't think so, Sadie. I'm not admitting to anything until you learn how to do a proper British accent. Because what you did right there?" He made a small huffing sound. "That was kind of shit." Of course, then he grinned, letting her know that he was only kidding. You know, about the gargling rocks thing. No way was he letting that impersonation off that easily.

His smile shifted into a full on smirk when he noticed she'd taken a step forward, drawing them just a little bit closer. Well, if someone walked in right this second, they would definitely get the wrong opinion, especially after he took a step forward like she had, leaving less than an few inches distance between. If he'd wanted to, he could have just leaned forward and... but he wouldn't. No, that was out of the question. Completely out of the question. Let's just ignore the fact that the thought had crossed his mind at all.

[[deleted user]]

"Gargle rocks?" Sadie scoffed at the ridiculousness of his remark as if it were any better than her arguments. "Please, Aiden. I thought you knew better. We Americans don't gargle rocks - we gargle freedom. What do you have? Oh yeah. A limited monarchy." Sadie tsked, placing her hands on her hips. "Do you have the preamble to your constitution memorized? I thought not!" (And really, she didn't know whether or not Great Britain even had a preamble, but hey, she was working with what she had.)

"Shit? Nothing I do is shit. And goodness, Aiden" - she paused, tilting her head to the side and back in order to get a better view of him and damn was it a hella fine view or what - "I bet you couldn't do a Boston accent if you tried." It was a challenge, of course; because that's what Sadie and Aiden did. Their relationship was like never-ending challenges.

He was close - some might call it too close to comfort, but Sadie's thoughts were more along the lines of, heyyyyy there Aiden and less of, oh my god get away from me. And she'd be lying if she said that kissing him hadn't crossed her mind. But she was kind of trained in how to lie, so she figured she was okay in that department.

[Jenna ⭐]

"Yeah. No, you're right. Freedom." He nodded his head with a soft smile on his lips. "And cheeseburgers." If anyone were to ask, Aiden would say that Sadie practically inhaled those things and anything else that sat on her plate, but whether that was true or not was another thing entirely. Not that many people were going to go against what he said about his closest friend anyways. Aiden bet that he could have said Sadie was secretly a seal in girl's clothing and someone out there would have believed him.

Wait, that was kind of offensive, wasn't it? Ah, oops.

There was a distinctive eye-roll that the blonde boy gave when she claimed to be shit-less (okay, not exactly shitless, but he thought that was a funny way to describe it), and he couldn't help but laugh a bit when she challenged him to replicate her accent. "So you're challenging me to sound like I gargle rocks- I mean, freedom?" He put on a disgusted face, "Yeah, I'm going to have to pass on that one." Knowing him, though, the more she probed for it, the more likely he was to give in. Curse him for always caving to this sort of thing.

However, in the next moment, even though it might have appeared that way, Aiden wasn't caving. He took a step backwards, reopening the space between them, if only for the sole purpose of teasing some more. He crossed his arms over his chest and simply stood there. Was he being one hundred percent humble? Hell no. Was he already anticipating her next move? You best believe it.

[[deleted user]]

Sadie crossed her arms - a motion that had become increasingly more common when she became friends with Aiden - and raised an eyebrow. Oh, so he was going to back down from this? Oh, hell no. She wasn't going to let her. She hummed thoughtfully. "Well," she drawled, "I suppose you could either 'sound like you're gargling rocks' or you could, oh, just admit the fact that you love my accent." She wasn't, of course, sure of this. But she'd still love to hear him say it. Just for the sake of being right. That's all. It wasn't like she was afraid of not being appealing to him because of her accent or anything.

"Or," she added, "maybe you're just so bad at your culture classes and can't imitate an accent to save your life..." She paused. "Hm, that sounds about right." Obviously, she was provoking him: She knew better, he knew she knew better, and well... espionage was a large part of his job. If he sucked at accents, he'd be dead by now. And, well... that wasn't really something that Sadie Jane ever wanted to think about. Because she wasn't going to lose Aiden. Ever. Even if he wanted to leave, she probably wouldn't let to. Yeah, she was clingy like that. And not sorry about it at all.

(view spoiler)[Maybe we should start wrapping this up or something? And go for the post-mission plan we had? (hide spoiler)]

[Jenna ⭐]

(view spoiler)[ Wrapping it up it is :) I'll try to make this drift off somehow or something we'll see how that goes and then we can head to the mission part ;) (hide spoiler)]

"I think you and I both know that I'm not anywhere near bad at culture classes." Maybe he wasn't the best in his class, but he wasn't the worst either. The top half was definitely where he resided when it came to that kind of thing, and the top quarter wasn't out of the question either.

With a smirk, he shook his head, eyes glancing upwards in thought. "So sound like I'm gargling rocks or admit to loving your accent..." He thought on his options for a moment, letting out a small hmm... sound. Finally, his eyes met her once more and he shook his head, taking a step backwards. "All great choices," he started as he began to make a retreat. "But I'm gonna have to go with neither." Standing outside the room, hands now slipping into his pockets, Aiden tipped his head to her. "Tell you what, I'll admit that if you come join me for lunch. We can talk about that mission we've got coming up or something then." A moment later and he had disappeared from view, his footsteps starting to fade down the hall...

... Only for him to return not a moment later, just his torso and up visible as he leaned over to look once more at his best friend. "Oh, and by the way, we don't actually have a constitution. Might want to stick with those culture classes, Sadie." Then, giving a single rap against the wooden door frame with the palm of his hand, he headed off down the hall.

(view spoiler)[ The urge I have to make a playlist for them on 8tracks is unbelievable :P I should do one for, like, all our couples and pairings. (hide spoiler)]

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben sat on a bench in the target range amd waited for his students to arrive. He had finally found a place to sleep for a few hours and now had arranged for his first class to be here in the shooting range. He ran a hand over his black leather jacket, a black patch on its shoulder depicting two white RPG launchers crossed in am "X", and tightened his combat boots. On the bench next to him sat his Leader .50 bullpup sniper rifle on its bipod. Might get a chance to use it after class, and even if he didn't it was a fairly uncommon weapon and the students might enjoy it. He sat back and laced his finger behind his head as he waited for them to arrive.

[alessia]

Off to the distance there was the sound of students laughing and talking and cheering, which got louder and louder as Mr. Awlk's class drew closer to the target range. They just got off from break, but they were still as noisy as ever. Close to the center of the noise was Darryl, sipping scotch from a bottle and laughing along to the jokes. He laughed a little too loud and a little too soon, but nobody noticed - or nobody cared. It hadn't been long since Darryl started attended Ymira Academy, but he'd already had the reputation of being the constant drunkard. Not that a lot of people minded, so as long as he could still help them sneak into other people's wi-fi.

The doors slammed open and the class entered. When they saw their "Commander" already there, they quickly silenced off. Even Darryl got the hint and kept quiet as well, waiting for Mr. Awlk's instructions.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben smiled and stood. "Welcome to The Art of War. As you should already know, I'm Commander Coben Awlk, Executive Operations, August team. You can call me 'Coben', or 'Sir', or 'Commander' if you want". As he spoke he walked through the crowd and closed the door they had come in through, locking it with a key that he dropped into a pocket afterwards. "This semester you will shoot, stab, hide, and crawl through the muck. Once I get the greenlight from Administration, certain of you will be taken on ExOp contracts to get a taste of what it's really like out there on the front. I've never taught in 'school' setting before, so this'll be an experience for all of us. After today I'll expect you to bring the following to class: notebooks and pencils, closed toed shoes you can hike in, a primary and a secondary ranged weapon, and a combat knife". As he listed the objects off he gestured to his own. A notepad and pencil on the bench, his black combat boots, his sniper rifle, the suppressed Tokerev pistol in its holster on his right hip, and a Tanto-style combat knife in a sheath on his left. "Any questions?" he asked as he returned to the bench where he had started.


((Now I really have to go to bed. I have class 6 1/2 hours.))

[alessia]

Wait - crawl through muck? Isn't there some way to avoid that? Darryl groaned to himself. Honestly, he wasn't as used as the rest of the students to getting his hands dirty. His style of killing was usually from a far. And that meant no muck. He didn't like the idea of trudging through forests to get to his destination either. Couldn't they just manipulate a few dudes to get the job done for them? That would certainly save the trouble.

But then again, this was an academy. And in an academy, he'd learned that you did what the coaches wanted you to do to survive, not what you thought was for the best. Sighing, he shook his head in union with the rest of the class, mentally prepping himself for the "pain, suffering, and torture" up ahead of him. Where was he going to get a combat knife, though? Never in his life had he held one, much less own one. He never liked to use knives anyway, guns and wit were good enough for him to last this long. Okay, he didn't exactly last this long. But good enough nonetheless.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

"No questions then? Good. Now let's start off with this." he grabbed his sniper rifle in one hand and lifted it above his head for everyone to see. "This is a MICOR Leader .50. It fires a .50 Browning Machine Gun round from a 24 inch barrel out to a maximum range of about a mile. It's gone with me through jungles, across deserts, and everywhere in between." on the side of the rifle the words If you run you'll die tired had been etched discreetly in white letters. "Today each of you is going to show me exactly what you can do with one". His eyes swept over the crowd as a smile crept across his face. "Now who wants to go first?"

[alessia]

The class shifted and exchanged glances, some were growing nervous, others were simply curious while a handful just looked bored already. That was when students began bumping shoulders and urging their friends to offer themselves when somebody whispered, "Can somebody still shoot when he's getting drunk?" All eyes snapped to Darryl, who was in the middle of tipping his head back and gulping down more scotch. "Mwhat?" he mumbled, his mouth full. "He said "moah"! That means "me" in French or something right?" a student called, a smirk on his face as he nudged Darryl forward. Ugh, Darryl though a scowl slapped onto his face as he cursed in his head. Whatever. I can still shoot just fine. I'm not drunk yet. He wasn't really that drunk. I'm great at sniping. I've got this.

"Yeah, I'll go first," he muttered, shoving his bottle of scotch into another student's hands and stepping forward. "I'll give that MICOR Leader whatever a shot," he said, not bothering to remember the entire name of the gun. Besides, it was not as if he was really going to get one just because his coach had one.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben flicked his wrist, spinning the weapon on its center of gravity just below the scope, and extended it to Darryl. He smiled and nodded toward the first firing booth. "Go ahead and take it over there, target's already up at 500 yards, easy shot to start with." after giving his instructions he turned to the rest of the class and directed them to watch. "Know your weapon inside and out. Getting on the ground with a weapon you don't know is a good way to get yourself and maybe your buddies killed. Knew a guy that landed in the jungles of South America with an early model M16. Don't know why he thought it was a good idea, but anyway. He lands, deploys, ends up sloggin' through swamp up to his armpits. We get out the other side and some psychopath with a machete jumps out at us. The guy jerks his M16 into firing position, pulls the trigger, the slide locks back halfway, and it refuses to fire again. The guy behind him shot the attacker, but not before Mr. M16 got a faceful of bush knife. See, early M16s had a lot of issues with fouling in the gas chamber, something my friend wasn't aware of. If you don't learn that lesson now you could very well end up like him."

[alessia]

Darryl turned the gun around in his hands, not paying attention to Coben's speech. Well, he did use to own a gun which could fire almost as far as this one. Maybe a hundred meters short, but better than most others. Anyway, 500 yards was no problem. It wasn't even half a thousand meters. He was sure he could do it, even with this foreign gun he didn't really know how to use. So he turned and stepped towards the first firing booth. Then he got into his position. The thing about his firing position is that it's not exactly right, but not exactly wrong enough for him miss his target. He never had somebody to teach him how to hold a gun anyway, so he just did web searching. But that wasn't the best way, of course.

Anyway, adjusted what he needed to, put his eye to the scope, closed the other and took his aim. It looked like a fairly simple gun, so it wasn't that hard to figure out what was what. But as he held his breath to take a shot, his finger twitched, surprising him by pulling the trigger a second too early. The recoil, although not as huge as other rifles, shocked him and the bullet went flying. Lucky for him, it didn't stray too far from the bull's-eye. The bullet had tore thought it, but half of the bull's-eye was still there. Well that sucked. Being drunk while shooting sucks. Funny that has never stopped me.

Turning back around, he stepped back to Coben and handed him his gun. A few if his classmates were snickering at his failure, but it wasn't that hard to tolerate. They were snickering like that the first day he came too. They were all laughing at how he was five years older than the rest of them and what a useless person he was - until a mysterious person hacked their computers and they needed his help. Well guess who was that mysterious hacker guy.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben took the rifle back with a nod. "Decent. Alright whose next?" he handed the rifle to the next student in line. As the student stepped up to the firing line Coben could tell that the rest were settling in expecting to do nothing while the others took turns shooting. He smirked as he leaned over the duffel bag on the bench and rummaged around in it, his hands hidden from view. Suddenly there was a hissing noise as he tossed two bundles into the middle of the enclosed space, one over each shoulder. When he turned around he was wearing a Czech gas mask that muffled his voice. The bundles had landed with a dull thud in the middle of the room. Both were streaming a yellowish fog. "Gas!" he yelled as the stinging mist spread through the room. He reached back into the bag and tossed out three identical black objects: gas masks. The test started, albeit wordlessly. He had locked only door when the class had entered and the windows were sealed bulletproof glass, and as the room filled with tear gas only three masks sat in the midst of a group of at least twenty.

[alessia]

"What the hell!?" a student hollered and some others screamed in horror at the sight of the gas. All eyes snapped to the three gas masks on the floor and after a brief moment of silence and stillness - everybody sized up the situation and frantically thought of a plan to save themselves - everyone lurched forward in a race for the masks. In two seconds, students were already on time of one another, desperately clawing their way to the masks. But Darryl knew he didn't stand a chance against most of the people in his class - he could be weaker in physical combat compared to some of the girls who were more merciless than one would think. But there was a scrawny girl in class who he probably could beat anytime. And oh look. She was the one holding the gun.

Darryl had enough experience of using a gun to fight to know how the knock the person holding the gun unconscious using their own gun. The student - her name was Elizabeth McCauley, he thought - was standing frozen in shock. She was a girl with great aim, but slow at reacting. So she didn't even realize Darryl had attacked her when he did. He grabbed the gun's barrel and shoved it upwards into her chin, knocking her head backwards and sending her stumbling back. Okay, she was a girl and that was really rude for him but he had no time to be a gentleman. Her grip on the MICOR Leader loosened immediately and Darryl spun it around into his hands. Now he was dangerous.

"Stop right there or I shoot you straight through the head!" he yelled, closing in on the crowd of students around the masks. They were so close it didn't matter that he was drunk. Everybody froze. They didn't stand a chance against the gun. They were smart enough, you had to credit them for that. So Darryl, with the gun in his hands, marched over to the gas masks and scooped one up. He retreated away from the gas as quickly as he could. And once he was out of reach from his other classmates, he dropped the gun and pulled the mask over his face.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben watched the whole situation with amusement. The first gas test was always entertaining. He never got tired of the surprised expressions or the sudden realization that they were expected to fight each other. Eventually the rifle came back into play in the hands of the first student who had shot. The others quickly fell back and allowed him to retrieve one of the masks. Some might consider bringing a gun inti that sort of fight as cheating, but by the time they passed this class they would know that there was no such thing. The gas continued streaming into the room and after the first thirty seconds or so anyone who didn't already have a mask stood little chance of acquiring one. As Coben had heard it aptly described "tear gas turns everything solid in your head into liquid. Then it runs out your nose, mouth, and eyes". Soon anyone who wasn't wearing a mask was effectively incapable of taking one. "If you get out into the real world and join up with a team you'll have to trust each other completely to work effectively. If you work alone you should expect nothing but treachery and deceit. Here you're alone." his voice was muffled slightly by his own gas mask. He pointed to the three who had gotten masks. "You three score 100. You get ten bonus for ingenuity." at this last statement he was pointing at Darryl. "Now everyone look around. Outside, these people are your friends and comrades. Here they're the competition." he sat down and laced his hands behind his head. "Now what are you waiting for?" he grinned behind his mask, "next shooter at the booth". They would probably hate him by the time this was all over, but ir would prepare them for real world outside he academy.

[alessia]

The three students with the masks were standing a round the rest of the students, who were choking, coughing and tearing at the eyes. One of them snorted at Darryl, who was smirking under his mask and playing with the gun. He could turn against Coben with the gun, but he was pretty sure this ex-military soldier would have been trained to beat him with a pistol and a knife through the smoke at this short a distance. Besides, he wasn't going to risk it just for a bunch of students who taught they would be able to beat him to a mask.

"Let them out sir," one of the other students with the masks told Coben. Darryl fairly remembered his name as Peter Farris. "They might just die in here. Besides, the lesson's over, isn't it? You don't really have any reason to keep them in the gas," Peter said, gesturing to his classmates who were suffering.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

"Ah, but the lesson's not over. The quick witted and the strong now have masks to protect themselves. The slower ones'll have to do without. Everyone can leave when everyone's fired their shot. Notice that you seem to care about your classmates, but you still have the mask." he stood and leisurely walked over to place himself between the students and the door. He took the key out of his pocket and placed it on top of the doorframe. "Of course if you're so worried about them, maybe you want to open the door." he waved toward the key "All you have to do is get around me and unlock it. Surely that's not a problem for someone as young and spry as you, is it?" he crossed his arms over his chest and waited. "Otherwise you should go take your shot."

[alessia]

Darryl exchanged glances with Peter and the other student with the last mask. Darryl was the only student in their class holding a weapon. The rest of them hadn't brought theirs. But Darryl couldn't fight against Coben. Not here. Not like this. He'd definitely lose. But he sure as hell wouldn't hand the gun to anybody else. Peter and the other kid might just shoot him, take his mask and give it to one of their friends.

He didn't know how to save his classmates.

Wait. Why did he even care? What did it matter to him if they died? So what if Peter hated him for letting his friends die? They'd just be one of the many people he'd already killed and ruined lives for. Oh, he knew why. It was a selfish reason, but he knew why he cared. If they died, who was there to care about him? If he saved them, wouldn't they care about him? He cared because he had nobody else.

Darryl tightened his grip around his gun and marched towards his mask-less classmates, who were all on the floor panting heavily. He found what he was looking for. He grabbed his bottle of scotch and turned around, his eyes darting about to find something made of steel. His attention was caught by the firing booths. The targets were framed by steel frames to hold them firmly in place. Without a second's hesitance, Darryl raced over, placed his bottle of scotch close to the steel frame, retreated a few steps and then fired at the frame.

Sparks flew. And landed in the bottle of flammable whiskey. In the blink of an eye, the bottle was set alight. Darryl scooped it up and turned towards Coben. He ran towards the coach and threw the bottle of fire at him. Then he began to open fire at the Tokerev pistol in Coben's holster and the Tanto-style combat knife in its sheath. It was all a wild idea. He just hoped it'd work.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben knew something was up when Darryl started moving around, more so when he set the bottle on fire. When it was hurled toward him Coben's reflexes took over which, in this case, wasn't the best thing that could have happened. His left hand shot out and grabbed the bottle in mid-air, sloshing its flaming contents down his left sleeve. In he next moment he felt his sidearm and combat knife fall to the ground as bullets from his own rifle tore through the straps. He shucked off his actively burning jacket and hurled it at the shooter, leaving him in a dark gray v-neck shirt. He dropped into a SAMBO fighting stance with the right side of his body turned toward his opponents and his feet widespread apart, his body lowered slightly to improve his center of gravity. His knife and pistol lay on the floor but he made no move to grab them. The rifle only had a ten shot magazine, it had to be empty or nearly there and then they would have to come in close. He plugged the neck of the bottle with a thumb and the fire inside flickered and died, deprived of oxygen. One of the maskless students made a run for the door and Coben swung it without taking his eyes off of Darryl, smashing it on the back of the student's head as he passed by. The boy collapsed unconscious.

[alessia]

Shit. The rifle only had two or one bullet left. At least Coben's pistol had a hole in it and his knife was awfully dented. He really wanted to be the hero, but Darryl couldn't fight against Coben in hand-to-hand combat. He'd just get his limbs broken. Not that that wouldn't make him glad. He was a masochist after all.

Darryl turned, gesturing at Peter and his other masked companion. Peter was huge and he was a pretty adapt boxer. His other friend was about Peter's size as well. They would make good distractions. Peter and his friend understood. They charged forward at Coben and began to attack him. As they did so, Darryl rushed around them and swung the rifle at the key at the doorframe, knocking it down and into his open palm.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben ignored Darryl for now, despite the fact that he must have been going for the door. The other two approached and threw the first punches, which he deftly blocked with an upraised arm. Most SAMBO moves center around constant smooth motion with no wasted effort and using brute strength to keep your opponents off balance. As soon as the first volley of punches faltered Coben grabbed one of the attacker's arms, spun three hundred and sixty degrees, and dropped even lower to the ground, all without letting go. This resulted in the first student being thrown horizontally through the air to collide with the other. He was careful not to break anything or do any damage that would take more than a few days to heal, as he would expect them back in class the next day. He dropped down to the ground, catching himself on his right hand, and snapped his left foot out at Darryl's ankle to unbalance him. When one of the students, he couldn't tell which one but he commended him for his resolve, came back at him Coben lashed out with two quick 'Tiger Strikes' (punches with a flattened fist to increase force over a smaller are). One landed on the boy's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him, and the second struck him in the trachea, not hard enough to collapse it, but hard enough to make breathing difficult for the next ten minutes or so. He followed it up by tearing off his gas mask and tossing it into the middle of the other students. They've been breathing tear gas for quite a while now, maybe they'll try a little harder to get the mask this time.

[alessia]

The keys nearly slipped out of his hand when Coben hit him, but Darryl managed to grab the door knob and balance himself. He shoved the key into the keyhole and twisted it. He could barely hear the click over the shouts of his classmates, who were clawing over each other for Peter's gas mask, but he knew the doors were now unlocked. He threw them open and the gas began to rush out into the corridor. Darryl tossed the key down the corridor to God knew where so Coben couldn't run out and lock them back in again. Then he turned back around and slammed the butt of the rifle into Coben's face, giving enough space for Peter to catch his breath and scramble back onto his feet and run for open air.

Now that the doors were wide open, the other students ditched the mask and all charged for the opening that lead to their fresh air. They were all stumbling and some even tripped, but they were all desperate enough to climb back up and continue running. The other student who still had his mask on had even had the decency to carry the unconscious student out into the corridor while Coben was distracted.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben turned from his first two attackers just in time to receive a blow to the face from his own rifle. Inexpert and a bit off, but that kind of attack was hard to mess up. He rocked back on his heels and probably would have lost his balance had he not already been in a lowered stance. He heard the students scrambling for the door and did the reasonable thing considering that he was between them and their target destination: he huddled in the floor, covering his face and sides to avoid as many of the feet as possible. He had seen enough POW camps released that he knew they wouldn't take the time to go around him. When most of the flow of students past he stood in one fluid motion while grabbing something out of his right boot at the same time. By the time he was standing straight again he had a compact Makarov pistol held firmly in a two-handed grip and aimed at Darryl. "Class dismissed!" he called to the students as they ran down the hall. He took one hand off of the backup weapon and removed his own mask as the gas dissipated. He clipped it onto his belt before holding the hand out towards Darryl and gesturing towards himself. "My sniper rifle, please." he said, frowning slightly at the light nasal tone he had acquired after being struck in the face. A ribbon of bllood flowed from his nose and over his lips. "Good situational awareness aside from the end where I caught you in the leg, but you were busy. High marks for resourcefulness. High marks for marksmanship." he continued. Coben glanced down at his right side for a split second as if to check something and saw a spot of blood where his houlster had been. "Make that 'good' for marksmanship." he corrected. "Probably needs stitches" he mumbled to himself. "Overall good performance. You'll be on the List. Shame though, I really liked that jacket." he said, referring to the smouldering leather wreck that had been trampled in the middle of the room.

[alessia]

Darryl watched as his classmates took off down the corridor and when he turned back to Coben, he was surprised to see a pistol aimed at his face. Coben told him to return his rifle and Darryl tried to suppress a smile because his coach now had a slightly funny voice after being hit in the face. He tossed the rifle to Coben, even when he didn't have a free hand to catch it. Darryl listened to him talk and glanced down at the wound he'd made when Coben did. "Ha, I'd say it was because of the gas and the fact that I emptied three bottles of whiskey this morning," he replied, turning to follow the rest even when they had already disappeared.

"I liked the scotch too! Shame I had to waste it on you!" Darryl called back. Then he disappeared as he turned into another hallway. He had to admit that he enjoyed the lesson, it was much better than sitting down and enduring lectures about things he didn't need to know.

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

Coben caught the rifle in both arms and set it back on the bench, re-houlstering his pistol before grabbing the rifle and duffel bag and exiting the building to head back to where he was staying. Once he entered the small shack he'd built in the forest to serve as his quarters he opened one if the cargo pods he'd brought with him an withdrew another identical Tokerev and combat knife along with a curved needle and string, which he used to sow himself up. After strapping on the knife and pistol he headed back towards the school cafeteria.

[alessia]

[[ So we're done here? ]]

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

((I thought so, unless there's something else you'd like to add. I enjoyed it, but that seemed to be the end.))

[alessia]

[[ I enjoyed it too - thanks for your time and effort. Well, I'll see you around then. :) ]]

[Coben [Arming the strong, aiding the weak]]

((Likewise!))