Soldier x Soldier - Rescued (Closed to TertiusHuman)

[TertiusHuman]

He chuckled at her protest, he knew her well enough by now to know it was her making good natured fun of him. He didn't mind, it was a good thing. They said laughter is the best medicine and in his experience it also showed that trauma were getting dealt with. He stretched along with her, encouraging her and keeping himself loose.

Afterwards, he attached Zero's leash and the trio of them hit the road for a jog, he kept it within reasonable limits in pace and distance. After they returned back home, he sent her for a shower while he packed a cooler box for their time on the range. After a shower, he gathered the weapons and ammunition, placed it in her car and fetched the cooler box, "Ready when you are Lt."

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

The jog was nice, it worked her muscles and soon they'd made it back home. She headed upstairs for a shower, she changed into jeans and a snug long sleeve shirt. Her hair was tied back as she came downstairs, "Yeah, I'm ready." She said with a smile, she always smiled when he called her by her rank. It was a name that her captors had never called her, and it brought up a lot of good memories. She slid on her boots and made her way out the door with him. She slid into the passenger seat and settled in for the drive to the range. It had been a long time since she'd fired a gun, though she remembers gunfire from being held prisoner. She prayed it didn't bring up any flashbacks.

 

[TertiusHuman]

He drove towards the local open air shooting range. He had scouted it during one of her mid day naps and knew that it housed all that they needed. Once there, he parked in the parking lot and got the cooler box and slung the weapon/ammunition bag over his shoulder.

After signing in, he took her over to the shooting gallery. He sorted out the pistols and carbine along with their ammunition and clips. He handed her ear and eye protection and then donned his own. He took her to the booth holding her own pistol.

"I remember that you had quite a good run with this one, so let's start off with this and work our way towards the Kill House."

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

She put the protection on then for a moment she just stood there, listening to the gunfire. Centering herself and ensuring she wouldn’t freak out while holding a weapon. Nodding she lifted her pistol. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to comfortably hold her gun with her mangled hands. She took aim and fired. She hit the target but it wasn’t the best shot.

She kept firing and slowly her shots got better. Shooting was muscle memory for her it just took her a while to remember what to do. But soon her shots were close to being back to normal, before her captivity.

 

[TertiusHuman]

He watched her fire and getting the basics back under control. When she finished the magazine, he tapped her shoulder and made sure she had the pistol secured.

"Alright, magazine change. I will load the empty one and then I want you to run through the three mags as fast as you can."

He ejected the empty clip and took a minute to fill it again. He rested the mag next to the others and secured his ear protectors again, motioning for her to carry on.

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

Kat nodded, once her gun was reloaded, She aimed and took fire, she fired rapidly, going as fast as her injured hands would let her. SHe dropped the first magazine and reloaded. She continued through the second magazine, then the third.

She finished, at a little over 2 minutes. It was a long time, but not bad, given her sore hands. All of her shots were good ones, most were kill shots to the center body mass. Breathing deeply, she lowered her gun, laid it on the table in front ofh er and removed her ear protection. "God that felt good."

 

[TertiusHuman]

Thor chuckled and rested an arm around her shoulders, giving her an uncharacteristic hug, "Not bad Lt, we will make a soldier of you yet."

He pushed the button to draw in the target and replaced it with a new one. He returned the pistol and clips to the bag and took Kat to the next booth.

"My personal weapon. Glock 21."

He patted the pistol and motioned her to commence as he adjusted his ear protection.

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

Kat grinned as she leaned into his unusual hug. They stepped to the next booth, She adjusted her ear protection before she lifted the Glock. She took aim and fired. THis one fired differently, but she still had pretty decent aim. She finished that magazine and lowered her weapon. She took a slow deep breath, this was therapeutic for her. More so than any amount of sitting in a therapist's office and talking about her feelings.

 

[TertiusHuman]

"You seem to handle the extra kick well."

He placed three loaded magazines on the counter and motioned for her to continue. He watched her as she worked her way through the magazines and he could notice a slight lift of her shoulders, a little gleam in her eyes when she looked at him.

He stored the pistol and clips and took her to the next booth. A M4 with six magazines lay in wait. It had an optic sight and a pistol fore grip mounted on the under slung rail.

"OK you know this weapon. Try it with the grip, it should help you to stabilize it, if it bothers you, we can remove it. Up and at them Lt."

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

They moved to the next booth, Kat's eyes lit up at the sight of the M4, she knew this weapon, it had been the primary weapon she'd carried while serving, aside from her handgun. She adjusted her ear protection and lifted the weapon, testing her grip, she adjusted until she was comfortable. Then she began firing. The kick set her off a bit at first, but then she settled in. She got comfortable as she fired the weapon, her aim continuously improving. This was calming for her, to realize she still had strength, she had control, and over this weapon she had power. It gave her some confidence, made her feel less helpless, not so weak.

 

[TertiusHuman]

He watched her go through the clip and provided three more. She did struggle a bit with the clips, but he also noticed that it didn't seem to bother her as much as the other smaller things. After she had finished with the extra clips, he collected the gun and clips and hefted the bag holding all the weapons.

"Right. Time for a snack and then get the holsters and tac gear on. We will go through the course until you call halt or we run out of rounds."

He moved towards where they had left the cooler box, lifted a bottle of water from it and casually tossed it at her, "Think fast!"

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

She was breathless from the joy when she finished the last clip. She secured the weapon before handing it back to him. She chuckled, and followed him. Think Fast! Her hands came up automatically to guard her face, she attempted to catch the bottle, but her grip wasn't tight enough. The bottle slipped through her fingers and hit the ground near her boots. She frowned and cursed before she ducked down and grabbed the bottle. She struggled with the cap again and growled before offering it to Thor. "Can you open this?" It was a good step for her, to at least ask for help.

 

[TertiusHuman]

"Sure."

He didn't comment on her flinching, the fumble or her vocalization of not being able to open the bottle. He had learned when to say something and when to shut it. He twisted the cap for her to break the seal and unscrewed it most of the way before handing the bottle back.

He drew out a water for himself and after a few sips, he got out the sandwiches and juice. He placed it on the table, unscrewed one of the bottles and then drank his water.

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

She was grateful that he didn't make a big deal out of it, he just helped her if she needed it and kept going with life. She finished unscrewing the lid and taking a long drink before following him to the table.

She sat down as she watched him, "Thank you for this, I needed this more than I knew, I think." She said, really she wanted to thank him for everything, she wasn't sure how she'd have handled this, if she'd been on her own, probably locked up in her house, with more alcohol than was healthy. Today, she was actually starting to feel a little more like herself, a little more normal.

 

[TertiusHuman]

"Oh I did it mainly for me Lt, I always liked looking at a good-looking woman firing a weapon."

He held his serious face for a few moments and then smiled.

"You're welcome Kat, it is good for you to know how to handle the weapons and I need to keep in shape. As long as you are enjoying it I am happy. To be honest I was ready to bug out the moment you flinched at a shot."

He picked up a sandwich and started eating

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

She was a little startled at first, when he made the 'good-looking' comment, but she grinned, "Ya know, I never flinched when I heard shooting, and they never used a gun against me." She mused, as she sat down to eat, perhaps one of the fist times that she had talked so easily about what had happened.

"It felt good, gave me a little sense of control." She said as she worked to grip the slippery sandwich with her hands. But she managed it and she was able to eat.

"I think my recovery has been a lot healthier because of you. You pushing me, helping me, just keeping me company." She mused with a smile.

 

[TertiusHuman]

He nodded, listening silently, feeling it best for her to choose her own revelations. He smiled slightly at the last statement, "Well Lt, somebody had to whip you into shape and for a superior officer you did make my job much easier."

He reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder, "And before we start discussing semantics, it wasn't a job nor work. You were a person who needed help and I could provide it. I am thankful for the chance to could have done so."

He finished his meal and drank the last of the water, "I have a challenge for you, if you can beat my time in the house, you can choose what we do and eat tonight, if I beat you, we go to a bar for a beer and some unhealthy food."

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

She smiled softly, he reached out and touched her shoulder, for once she didn't flinch at the touch, instead she even leaned into it a bit. Her eye brow raised at the challenge. She loved a good challenge.

Kat had trained with the best in shoot houses, but it had been a while, and Thor likely had more experience in the shoot houses than she did. "You're on." She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go out to a bar, but she reminded herself that she was trying for normal, and that would be normal.

She finished her lunch and stood up, dealing with her trash. "We doing gear and all?" She asked curiously.

 

[TertiusHuman]

He grinned and patted the bag, "We will have to share the carbine, but the holsters and combat vests are in here. So you can kit yourself with the minimum. So no we will not go full gear."

He closed the cooler box, finished his water and tossed his garbage away, then he opened the bag, drawing out rigs, belts, holsters and the two vests. "I took an estimate on the vest, got a few weird looks, but it should fit."

He went about loading the empty clips, "I hope you saved some energy for the house Lt, don't want to hear I won because you were tired."

He grinned, hoping for her to join in on the banter

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

Kat grinned as she took the smaller vest and shrugged it on. God it felt good to be strapping the vest on. “You’ll be the one whining when it’s over, that you lost to a girl.” She teased. Truth be told she was tired already but she needed to increase her stamina and she wanted to play in the shoot house.

She grabbed the rest of her gear and prepared. Rationally she knew she likely didn’t have the endurance or the sharpness of skills to beat him today. But damn if she wasn’t going to try her hardest. The Army had taught her to give 110% all the time and that wasn’t about to change now. She grinned over at Thor “ready?”

 

[TertiusHuman]

He placed the last full clip down and nodded, "Ammo ready, load up, I will time your run and then you do the same."

He slid his loaded pistol into the holster, added magazines to his battle rig and picked up the stop watch after securing his ear protection and shooting glasses. He watched her finish and gave her a smile.

"No rush Lt, slow is smooth, smooth is fast."

He followed her to the start and stood behind her, his fingertips touching her vest, "In your own time... Start."

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

Kat loaded her weapons, walking towards the start, she found his hand on her vest to be oddly comforting. She secured her ear protection and her eye protection. She nodded at his words, slow was smooth, smooth was fast. It was a mantra she knew well. When he said start, Kat stepped into the shoot house, she worked smoothly, only faltering a few times. She hit every target, though they weren't perfect kill shots, and she managed to not shoot anything she wasn't suppose to. It took her longer than it should have, but honestly for it being the first time in a long time, she didn't do bad, time wise.

 

[TertiusHuman]

After making sure everything was secure, Thor helped her collect the dropped magazines as they retraced their steps to the outside.

"Not bad Lt, of course you are used to doing better, but you must also remember that you have a slight disadvantage."

He met her eyes and gave her a slight smile, "It isn't your personal carbine."

He chuckled and then moved to the table, reloading the magazines, "Why don't you grab us some water before I go? You went through the house so fast that I think we have a lot more time available to us than what I thought when we came out."

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

Kat smiled and shrugged, yes she was accustom to doing better, but like he said, she had several disadvantages now. Nodding she stepped away and went back to their cooler. Getting a couple bottles of water, she struggled to grip the slippery bottles on her way back to Thor. She handed him one before she tried to take the cap off her bottle. But her hands were tired, they were trembling even a little. Sighing, she offered the bottle to him in a quiet plea for help. Once he took the cap off, she took a long slow drink of her water.

 

[TertiusHuman]

Thor opened his own water and drained half of the bottle in one go, then he slung on the carbine, tested it and handed Kat the stopwatch. He wasn't planning on going easy, he needed to stay sharp and this was just a good outing for her and good enough practice for him. Maybe if she gets better he can manage a few more courses for them. If she doesn't reveal the information that the higher ups wanted before then.

He looked at her and found that he actually forgot about his secondary reason for being here. He had focused so much on getting her to feel better that he actually found that he had grown attached to her and Zeus. He managed to look away and slip on his cap.

"You ready Lt?"

He took up his starting position and when she touched his back, he took it as the go sign and he went. His training came to the fore and he swept through the house at the best speed he could manage. Of course he wasn't happy with the time when he finished, he never was and that was probably the one thing the two of them had in common. They always knew that they could do better.

"Well I think that if you can beat this time Lt it is a home made dinner tonight."

He gave her a cheeky grin, before making his way back, picking up the spent magazines.