Time for weapons training. She needs to familiarize herself with the weapons you've provided. Sneaking around is going to give her the advantage, but if she can't hit a target it wont matter.

Take her to the target range, practice with both the SMG and pistol. Use the general basics, squeeze the trigger, rather than pulling it, short controlled bursts with the SMG, etc.

If she can pick up the basics quickly move it back to the urban course. Learning to place shots where you want them is good, but we want her to be able to think on her feet, so moving on to the urban range where she'll be moving and firing will be smart.

If she does make it that far during the first session, make sure to emphasize that putting quick bursts into center mass. Aiming for headshots is unnecessary in most situations. Two shots from a pistol, or a short controlled burst from an SMG to take down targets is all that is necessary.

>>372324
>So, what will you train her for first tomorrow?
We acquired all those random items for sensory training for a reason; I'd make that a priority. Sensory training needs to be front-loaded if possible so that she can try to recognize the scents that we're teaching her as she experiences other things.

>>372592
The urban combat stuff you're suggesting requires a myriad of skills already in place; I don't think she'll be ready for it for at least a few more days. We don't want to be moving on to that kind of thing until she can reload her weapon in her sleep and hit a target's center mass at twenty feet every time. Trying to move too fast will only mean that she ends up tripping over her lack of the basics.

So when we do start gun training it'd be better to spend the entire first session on the range, working on her core skills with her two weapons- gun safety, stances, grips, reloading, single and burst fire, all that basic stuff. Even if she seems to have things down, repetition is key with skills like this- you have to train them until they're reflexes. We'll want to get her weapons suppressors at some point so that she can be familiar with their use and how they affect the firing characteristics of her guns, but that can wait until she's got a good handle on their base characteristics.

Bumping for a tiebreaker

>>372596
I'm with this. We should give Scylla a comprehensive education. Having started with stealth and whatnot, let's stick to that.

The next morning arrives as expected, and, by the time you arrive at the SWA, Scylla seems to be headed back to her dorm with Elsa, neither talking, but both looking content. Upon noticing you, her features lighten ever so slightly, a tiny smile gracing her face as she leaves her roommates side to greet you "Hello Mr. Artioum. What are we doing today?"

You grin back at her, as you reply "First, more sensory training, and then we'll go to the range to start you on firearms training."

Scyllas smile deepens "Rico and Elsa will be there with us then." she pauses, thinking, before adding "I think Henrietta will be there too."

By now you have reached your cyborgs room. As she sets about preparing for the day, loading some candy into one pocket, and making her bed, Elsa asks "What are you training today?" in a monotone voice.

Scylla stops to look up at her, before stuffing her hand in her other pocket, and responding "My nose and ears. Then with my weapons after lunch."

Elsa nods "I will see you at the range then." before she turns to the window to look out it.

-----

It does not take long to reach the empty room you had prepared to start your cyborgs next level of sensory training. Looking exactly as she did at the end of last night, sans the wrinkles her cloths had from laying about, you idly realize that she must have only been issued a few copies of the same cloths. She is a rather quick study, you happily realize. You had started with gunpowder, a scent she already seems to be recognizing.

"Is it a gun?" she asks first, already having drawn the connection.

You shake your head "No, gunpowder, from the bullets." smirking "But you were very close."

"How do they work?" she asks as you reveal the small cup of powder to her. So, as you prepare the next substance, you explain guns and bullets. Combustion, muzzle velocity, it seems that for every question you answer she has another, only falling silent once she has run out of questions. And so it continues for gasoline, oil, Semtex, nitrous oxide, tobacco, a few more illicit drugs even, along with a plethora of what you described to her before beginning as 'danger' or 'work' smells. For each she has a stream of questions, which you happily answer, leading to her categorizing it as "boom" "stupid" or "engine".

As you put your last item away, Scylla asks "When will we do sounds? You said that I need to be able to tell when I can leave a hiding place by sound, so I hope we do sounds soon."

You chuckle "I guess I will have to set up another lesson for sounds, I dont have any ready today. Lets eat for now." Scylla grins as you pat her on the head, before following you to the cafeteria.

Being mostly deserted in the cafeteria, you sit with Scylla as you begin you meal. Just as you swallow your first bite however, Bernardo and Beatrice arrive at your table, trays laden with food. "What did you do this morning Beatrice?" you cyborg asks, as you nod your greeting to Bernardo.

The other cyborg cocks a tiny grin, smaller even than Scyllas, which are very hard to spot "Bernardo had me learn what explosives smell like. And he began teaching me how to use them."

Your cyborg smiles back at the cyborg in the floral-print dress "I did that this morning as well. But I had more than just Semtex and plastique. Did you enjoy it?" Beatrice simply nods, her face straight again, causing Scyllas grin to fade away.

Bernardo groans, before injecting "Beatrice, it is nice to verbaly reply to questions like that. Even if it has the same effect as nodding your head."

Ask what are they going to do after the meal. If they are going to the weapons range, we might as well suggest a friendly competition. Elsa will have an advantage (her enhanced sight), but Beatrice and Scylla are on the same base level.

>>373479
If we go for friendly competition it might be good to clear that with the other handlers first. And perhaps get a little something for the winner, extra dessert or maybe an engraved bullet. Nothing too big.

>>373342
Yeah, socializing seems to be a pretty common problem. And if they cannot be convincing girls a lot of their advantage stemming from being little girls evaporates. Socializing with among the cyborgs helps, but it seems to fall somewhat short.
Make a suggestion for you three new handlers and maybe some interested docs and old hands to meet and talk. You have some ideas on that front and would like to get input. If he wants more information now, tell him currently you think about outings to learn by observing once Scylla and you are more settled in.

>>373479
I'm not sure that a competition would be wise when Scylla's never really handled a gun before. She needs to get a solid baseline on her core skills (as outlined in >>372596) before we begin expecting her to use them well.

But hey, I suppose it's no big deal as long as we don't spend too much time on it and make sure she has a certain minimum of training before starting it. Even if she loses it might motivate her.

Anyway, spend some time chatting amicably and then go for a long afternoon at the range.

You chuckle "Dont worry, it seems that unless she has a question, Scylla is the same way. What are you doing after lunch?"

the man swallows, shaking his head "The ranges, I put off firearms training long enough. Something just..." he trails off as the girls both turn to look at him in unison.

"Maybe a competition between our girls then? The best shot by the end of the night gets... I can engrave something on a bullet, I think." you offer, hoping the banter of competition will pull Scylla out of her quiescence when there are no questions in her head.

Bernardo scratches at his chin "What do you think, Bice? Spend a few hours on the basics then see who learns the fastest?"

Beatrice swallows her food, before turning to reply in an even voice "O.K." then turns back to eating, as Scylla simply smiles.

-----

The first few hours go quickly enough, though terrifyingly for you. Scylla nearly takes your leg off when she forgets to properly unload her M1911 early on. You have another near disaster when Scylla is watching your demonstration, finger still on the trigger. A few strands of Beatrices hair are shaved off when you drop a joke, causing your charge to jerk a bit with her laughter. You were just lucky that no one was hurt.

So it is that, a few hours after lunch that the two cyborgs are lined up next to each other, a trio of targets for each of them. "You cant even make sure all of your shots go down-range. You will lose." Beatrice taunts your girl.

Elsa walks up to the pair "You two were pathetic. Lauro said that I should help you practice once this farce is over with."

"Well, that's one way to get them to socialize." Bernardo mutters in your ear.

Scylla grins at her roommate, as she coolly replies "Thank you, but James already answered all my questions, you would just distract me."

"And that could prove fatal, couldn't it?" The blond cyborg replies, a slight glint in her eye.

Scylla blows a stray hair away from her safety glasses, and replies "At least I understood the joke, Elsa." Grinning as she pulls the trigger, starting the competition. Back and forth the two large caliber handguns bark back and forth.

Speed, accuracy, safety, the girls learned quick. Already you would trust Scylla on the range by herself. Her face scrunched up in concentration, Scylla has marks that would be excellent for most normal soldiers, and just a hair better than Beatrices at the end of it.

"Well done, both." Elsa says, before turning on her heal, and retreating to her handler.

As Scylla silently beams you ask her "So, what do you want on your bullet then?"

So caught up in thinking is Scylla misses whatever it was that Lauro was saying, all you catch is "No you idiot, your su-"

Before Scyllas voice cuts in "Can it be a necklace? With my name on it?" she pauses, before adding "And yours?"

You grin "Of course you can. Now, lets move on to your PP2000 before it gets too dark to continue training." Luckily for your nerves, the SMG training goes much smoother. So much better that it is clearly the weapon Scylla is more comfortable with at by the end of the day.

As you walk Scylla back to her room, you pass Henrietta and Jose, the former carrying a few bags, most likely laden with new cloths. Scylla watches them a bit before turning her attention back to you, in time to say your goodnights as she enters her room.

>so, what training for tomorrow? (I', putting off the updated stat sheet until you hit all of the different skills you wanted to train, so you should get it with my next post)

>>373906
Did we not finish the day with a "what did you observe today" episode? Sloppy of us. That needs to happen every night, or she'll lose focus. That happens first thing in the morning if we missed it.

I am inclined to revisit hand-to-hand training this morning and then stealth this afternoon. Hand-to-hand should continue to focus on skill at partial speed until we think she knows what she's really doing instead of using her sheer power as a crutch, then (if she gets that far) move towards exploiting that power for devastating and likely-lethal attacks. Stealth should continue to focus on urban activity; roll in some hearing awareness concepts- keeping track of your opponent's location and what they're doing by listening for them, that sort of thing. Have her wait in one section of the course while we do something that she can't see, then have her tell us what we did and where we did it using just the sounds she picked up.

While I would like to eventually train Scylla in trapping and breaking/entering, and possibly also mechanical skills since she seems to enjoy them, ultimately it's likely wiser to put a great deal of dedicated work into her core skills (stealth, awareness, melee combat, and ranged combat) during her initial training and branch out later. It's those four skills that are going to be the key to her success; everything else is handy but not essential. Work the basics until she excels and only then should we move on to other matters.

>No you idiot, your su-

(The following is pure speculation; if you want to try guessing the unheard, it would be best if you did the guessing part before reading my variant. And please put your tries under spoilers too, let's limit the mere exposure effect.)

I think it might have been "you're supposed to...", possibly referencing the patronizing (sight enhancement, duh) way she spoke to the other girls.
Or it might have been "Your surname is not DeSica".

The fact that we missed the observation report session is regrettable. (If we bring it up, should we point out the fact that there was something interesting that we've missed?)

Concerning further training, >>373925 seems to be good.

The next morning you reach Scyllas room just as she returns from the cafeteria, Elsa in lockstep with her. They are not talking, but it does not seem to be an awkward silence either. The pair notices your approach, not surprising as you were appraoching from the opposite direction she was. "Good morning, Mr. Artioum." she greets you cheerily, as Elsa simply nods by way of acknowledging you. "What will I be training today?"

You smirk, the girl blissfully unaware of what you have planned for her "Hand to hand training in the morning, and more work on your stealth skills this evening."

Scylla nods cheerily "Okay. I'll change into my training cloths then." you wait patiently outside for your charge to emerge from her room after she ducks inside with Elsa.

A few minutes later, the door opens, and, as Scylla cheerily walks out, you hear Elsas resigned voice sigh out "I will meet you at lunch then, Scylla."

You decide to use an indoor training room today, as it looks like rain outside, and lead Scylla to the room in silence. Once you enter, you begin "Scylla, you forgot something last night."

The cyborg freezes, confused and worried "I did?"

You nod "Remember how I said you were to report to me what you observed throughout the day each night?" Scylla nods, slowly "You did not last night, and only a day after I told you to do so."

Scylla looks up at you, worried, and sad "But, but, you never asked me about it."

You shake your head "Initiative is important. I will always be sure that there is enough time at the end of the day for you to report to me, but you need to remember to do so." you shake yourself loose, grinning a bit "So, three quarters speed, and your report from yesterday. After that warm-up, we will work on improvements."

Scylla nods, apeing your stance, wide, dtraight-backed, fists up... quite the sight on a girl that most would assume weights well under 85 pounds. You strike out at the girl, and she blocks, beginning "Amadeo and Giordio were talking about Priscilla and Ferro, but I didnt understand most of the words they were using." She twists away from your assault as she finishes the sentance, before rushing you, fist ready for a gut-blow.

As you block it, she continues "When they noticed me they stopped talking though" she spins around your flat palm, ready to drive her elbow into your back "then they became very distressed when the women they were talking about entered the room." You lift her elbow up, and spill her to the ground.

Scylla groans, before rolling away from the light stomp you had aimed at her gut, and leaping up as you stomp the padded mat "Then I heard Marco and Jose talking about Angelica" she barely blocks a trio of jabs you send her way as she reveals this, continuing "she is sick, but I dont know whats wrong with her. None of the other girls know either." she finishes, catching your arm and trying to pull herself forward to kick your spleen, though your putting all of your body into an arm sweep spills her to the mat again before she can connect. And so it continues for the next two and a half hours, you slapping Scylla around the training room, her doing her best to give you bruises and her report from the day before. Its nothing deep, nothing ground-shattering, and you do get more than a few bruises for her efforts.

Eventually, the report ends, and you allow Scylla to catch her breath, you ask her "What did you notice while fighting me?"

She pouts as she steps away from the water fountain in the corner of the room "That your still a lot better than me."

You chuckle, and step over to ruffle her hair, eliciting an indignant squawk as you step up to the fountain. "And?" you prompt her as you go in for a drink.

She drops against the wall, thinking while you drink. Eventually she responds "You caught me while I was moving a lot, and where you hit me hurt a lot more than where I hit you."

You nod "Good, you noticed." helping the girl up "You know the basics of how to properly strike and defend yourself, but your economy of motion is poor, and leaves you open for counter-strikes and makes you easy to predict."

Scylla pouts "So, how do I get better?"

You chuckle "That, is not something that can really be taught, but must be learned for yourself. The second thing however, that when I hit you it hurt more, can be easily remedied. I'm going to show you how to choose where you strike now, so that you dont waste energy."

"So, I didn't hurt you during that match?" Scylla asks, almost dejected.

You shake your head, chuckling as you hike up the leg of your training shorts, revealing a nasty looking bruise on your thigh "No, I suspect that I'll be feeling this for quite a while. Its just that a bruise wont take a man out of a fight. Its joints and sensitive spots you need to go for. Once you have a target, you should be less wasteful with how you move, so lets slow down a bit more and go over what places are good to hit."

-----

After that, things go smoothly until lunch. Scylla remembers most of the spots you point out, and, after she nearly dislocates your knee, to pull her punches more in training. She is still far from perfect, or even good enough for you to confidently turn her loose in a real fight, but she is definitely improving. So, sore and bruised, the two of you make your way to the cafeteria, after washing up of course. "Will we be on the urban course again tonight?" Scylla asks. You nod an affirmative as you round the corner to the cafeteria "It will be interesting then, since Henrietta and Angelica were working that course this morning." And at that, you enter the cafeteria. Before you can get in a response, Scylla walks off towards Elsa and Beatrice, who are already in line to get their food.

Bernardo enters the room behind you, and sighs "At least they seem to be adjusting well."

You shrug as you fall into step with the man towards the food "From the way Scylla paints it, a lot of that is thanks to Triella. The girl seems to act like the older sister to the other cyborgs."

Your peer shakes his head "Our girls only spent half an afternoon with her and the others, she cant be that good, can she?"

You grab a panini, and respond "Well, their handlers are nice enough to them, they came here with two others at the same time, whom they get along well enough with. This is probably just the calm before the storm. Something will come up no doubt." you reply, filling up a cup of soup and moving to the table where Lauro is eating.

The third handler chuckles "This feels entirely too much like a highschool. Busy all day, socializing during lunch, genders segregated by choice."

Bernardo joins him, taking a bite out of the sandwich he took for his meal "Well, once out girls are better trained it will probably be less so. I dont really want to be training with the larger populace here at the SWA until I know Bice wont do anything dangerous." You nod in agreement, chewing your food.

Lauro shakes his head as he looks over to the girls, who are sitting and eating in silence. For a while all three of you simply watch your charges as you eat, until the first one to look breaks the silence, quietly stating "I just wish they werent so damn creepy. Its just not natural how they sit there in silence like that."

You begrudgingly nod in agreement, knowing that Scylla can full well hear this conversation, but not see you from her angle, as Bernardo replies "It could be worse, they could be like-"

The man trails off as a cheery looking Rico walks up to the table, a spot of blood at the corner of her mouth "Jean wanted to see you three in director Lorenzos office as soon as your available. He said it would be easiest if you were together." before skipping off to your girls.

All three handlers groan, while not technically your boss, the pecking order is clear. Jean is Lorenzos right hand man, and, even if he weren't, he has enough seniority on you that you would have to go to him anyways. "This is going to put a wrench in my training plans." you grouse as you finish your meal.

Lauro chuckles "Not for me. Elsa is under orders to be where I can find her if something like this comes up. She will be in her room waiting for me."

Bernardo nods "And Bice will probably go to hole up in her room and study the manuals I gave her yesterday."

"Properly trained, even kids can be bearable, right?" Lauro chuckles out, not catching the glare you and Bernardo shoot him for the comment. As you leave the room, you catch a rather singled out looking Scylla being dragged to her feet, then behind Rico as the cyborg leaves through a different door, Elsa and Beatrice watching in silent amusement.

-----

You enter the office to find Jean waiting for you, a trio of straws in his pocket, and some sheets of paper on the desk. "I have nothing to complain about really, but, it is something of a policy for the director to check in on new handlers at the half-week and week marks. Make sure things are going well, and provide any aid if needed. Since that will be quick and easy, I'm going to suggest that we do the less enjoyable part first. Though, I'll leave the choice to the three of you."

"I'll take the free help first. It cant be so bad that it could eclipse whatever reward your implying for our work so far." Bernardo chirps immediately.

Lauro shakes his head "Just get the hard part over with, I dont need any help, so we might as well finish this meeting up quick, so that I can get back to work." All three men turn to look at you, expectantly.

If we know what's to befall us in the future, we can plan accordingly if it so happens that our rewards will be (partially) chosen by us. So, bad news first.

Also, seems like Scylla is going to get something girly done to her.

>>374308
Bad news first. Why not?

Let's get the unpleasant part out of the way first.

You shrug "Start with the bad, I suppose."

Jean nods, pulls the straws from his pocket, shuffles them, and offers them around. YOu end up with the short one "The Marco/Angelica fratello are on assignment tonight. And... James, since you drew the short straw, your on the emergency line tonight."

Bernardo and Lauro grin, as you stutter out "B-but, I I didnt agree to choosing who would..."

Jean stares at you impassively "Its how Jose and I decided when we started here, so it only seemed fair that you three do the same. Bernardo has the next shift, and Lauro the third before we resume the regular rotation."

Lauro grins "So, what exactly does manning the emergency line entail?"

Jean ceases glaring at you, and turns to reply "Sitting behind a desk behind the op center and hoping the black phone doesnt ring. I suggest you bring some reading material James." Jean pauses, and pulls a trio of files from under the desk, and slides one to each of you. "Now, at the half-week mark, it looks like all three of you are acclimating well, no issues, cyborgs progressing well enough. In these folders you will find your first months expense fund, official clearance cards, and the papers clearing you permanently for cyborg sign-out."

"Permanent sign-out?" Lauro asks, raising an eyebrow.

Jean nods "You had to clear that outing with Elsa her first night as a cyborg with the Director. Now, you just need to put in your names on the sign-out sheet, and a legitimate reason."

"And the expense fund?" Bernardo asks, grinning madly.

"Think of it as a suplement to your mission funds, your cyborgs pay, and a bonus for you if the check isnt spent up on the first two." Jean explains as you open your envelope, surprised to see four zeroes on your check.

Bernardo grins even deeper "So, fun for us, and money that ISNT ours to get our girls out of the crap they provided them to wear after waking up?" Jean just nods in response.

"What would we even use this money for during our training month?" Lauro prompts, as he grinningly slides the check and security card into his pocket.

"Most have their girls doa few dry runs on local gangs, muggers... small time criminals that wouldnt even be a threat to the handler. Otherwise, consider it a bonus. Now, if none of you gentlemen have any questions, I no doubt need to get Rico back on task." After waiting a polite amount of time, Jean exits the room, and you realize how well the mans ploy played out.

"With a check that big, its no wonder none of us could think of any questions to ask him." you quip, collecting your paperwork.

Bernardo nods "One of the perks of working in a Black agency I suppose." as he leaves the room.

-----

You find Scylla in Claes and Triellas room, along with Henrietta, though Rico is nowhere in sight. Your cyborg is casting annoyed glances sidelong at Henrietta as she asks Triella "So, he puts you in suits, but buys you teddy-bears?"

The tanned cyborg nods, as she sips from the glas in front of her "Yep, pretty much." as Scyllas back is to the door, it is Treilla that greets you "Hi James, I take it your here to take Scylla from us?"

As you nod, and your cyborg turns around to grin happily at you, Claes interjects "Did you really have to name her after a monster though?" the cyborg in question tilts back her head, finishing what must have been half a cup of... tea, you think, and belches. "Not that she doesn't deserve a monsters name." Claes mumbles.

Having heard everything, Scylla turns to retort "At least I dont have a boys name, Claes." the raven-haired cyborg simply raises an eyebrow, and nods, either admitting defeat or awarding the other girl a point, you cant be sure.

"Why does it have to be a monster?" you ask as Scylla rises to walk over to your side, still grinning her usual small smile.

Claes shakes her head, and sets her cup down on its saucer "Last time I read the Odyssey it was a monster."

Nonplussed, Scylla looks up at you "James, can... can I ask for something?" you nod at your cyborg, curious as to what it is she wants. "I was thinking that, since I did well with my stealth training last time, we could have more people for me to sneak by. And, maybe all of us could have those paintball guns you used on me last time... I would still be the only one practicing, and the other girls would just be extra-"

"Other girls?" Claes asks, face flat.

Triella shrugs "Henrietta and I dont have anything else on our schedule tonight. If you'll have us we could help out. Certainly beats sitting around bored all evening."

Claes sighs "Fine, though, I dont know why you volunteered Henrietta Treilla, and I certainly dont know what you mean by 'sitting around bored' I have plenty of books."

Scylla looks over to Claes "Jose isn't even in the compound tonight, so of course Henrietta is free."

"And books aren't exactly my idea of a good time. Hillshire has us reading enough of the damn things for his literature courses." Triella adds, before the cyborgs all turn to look to you for an answer.

Well. What was the original plan? Can we integrate them without too much work?

Original plan for today is here >>373925
I'm for allowing the other girls participation.

Easy way and little fun way is to have them pose as guards for us. That could be the first run through, just to see where everyone is with regard to finding and getting found by Scylla.
Then mix them up and split them into two teams, one guarding you, the other hunting for Scylla, for a few runs.
And for the last run a free for all, everyone sneaking up on everyone else.

Have the girls clear it with their handler, or who ever is in charge first.

Don't overexert yourself, you have a night shift today.

>>374851
>manning the emergency line
>the expense fund
Tonight, we go online and start ordering gadgets. Lots of gadgets. For one thing, I'd like to rig up the entire urban combat arena with tiny monitoring cameras that can report to a central laptop under our control, and get solid encrypted mid-range ear/mic communicators for us and Scylla. As she moves into advance stealth training these arrangements should help us out immensely- plus we'll be able to review footage of things later, and potentially teach Scylla about how security cameras work and how to avoid them.

>Did you really have to name her after a monster though?
The girls' discussion of Scylla's name is interesting, because I find it appropriate on three levels:
-First, she is meant to be very much a monster to those she acts against, possessing power beyond the human like any creature of myth.
-Second, to us personally she was the lesser evil chosen to avoid total destruction; it was her or death, making her the 'Scylla' choice.
-Third, like Scylla in myth she was a girl who had done nothing personally wrong but suffered a terrible fate and was transformed into a form suited for violence by others.

In accordance with this, when we get a moment alone with her, tell Scylla "Your name came up... are you curious as to the real reason for it?" Of course she is; she's curious about almost everything. "Then we'll make that another challenge. Tell me why I chose that as your name- not just a guess, be sure you're right and tell me why you think so- and I'll have another reward for you."

>Other girls
They can come if they have permission from their handlers. We shouldn't be stealing others' cyborgs without their go-ahead.

It could be very beneficial to have additional girls present- don't bother teaching Triella or Henrietta stealth too much; use them as guards for a static objective, tell them to hunt down Scylla and see how long she can evade, or tell Scylla to transport an object from one point to another and have the other girls try to intercept. Scylla doesn't get to attack Triella and Henrietta; give both of them paintball guns but leave her unarmed to force her emphasis to be on stealth (and hand-to-hand if she's feeling bold about it). We give Scylla personal coaching throughout the exercises, and emphasize both the points we meant to bring up today and any other topics of opportunity; anything in stealth and awareness should do it.

>>375006
I'm not sure if we should be active in the name discussion. Revealing those reasons you listed might offend or even destabilize Scylla. I think we should have that talk only if she asks.

Otherwise, your plan is good.

You shrug "Triella, Henrietta, if your handlers clear it your welcome to help out." you pause, and turn to look at your own cyborg "And no Scylla, you aren't advanced enough to be allowed your own weapon for this exercise yet."

Treilla and Henrietta both nod, before leaving the room. "Claes, you said that my name came from a book you have, can I borrow it?"

The older girl sighs, closes her book, and nods "Just dont ruin it, dog-ear it, or do anything else bad to it."

Scyllas tiny grin, which had dissapeared when you declined her the use of her own gun for this afternoons exercises, reappears "Thank you, Claes."

As the two cyborgs fall into silence, Triella and Henrietta return "Hillshire is fine with me helping out. he called Jose, and he is okay with it as well." the elder girl informs you.

Claes marks her book , and pushes back from the table the had been reading at "I suppose I'll help out as well." she announces as you lead the small group from the dorms to the urban assault course.

-----

It doesnt take you long to set up the training routine. The other cyborgs and yourself guarding a small cardboard box, of which you have several. Scyllas mission is simple, sneak in undetected by the guards, using only stealth, or hand to hand skills to subdue, and crush the box. Scylla comes in over-confident at first, and is painted a lovely shade of neon green because of it. Her next few attempts get her inside the building, though Claes and Henrietta, who form the inner defensive ring, to Triellas outer watch, manage to stop her handily.

Scyllas fourth attempt is her first success, leaving a frustrated Treilla and Claes, a lightly bruised and sloppily bound Henrietta, and yourself rather proud. However, where your girl found the cord she bound the other cyborg with is a mystery too you. Three runs after that, and Scylla has found the gaps in the patrols being run in the current building, and is moving past you easily enough. After untieing Henrietta a third time, you move the exercise to a new building.

Scylla begins putting holes in your defensive web quicker, though she is not without failures, and Scylla gets exactly one neon pink paintball in the back of her head, courtesy of Henrietta, for every time your girl battered and tied the chestnut haired cyborg. Confident that Scylla can learn and move through guard routines after five different buildings, you decide to start the target moving again.

This proves to be a problem for your cyborg. As, while adept at moving unseen, her stalking skills are subpar. Your cyborg takes more hits during the first hour of runs allowing the guards to move the target than she did the rest of the afternoon. Not to say she is deterred, or impatient, the process is simply taking her longer than you had expected to adapt to, and learn to deal with.

-----

As you lead the gaggle of cyborogs back to the dorms, all of them bearing a few bruises, and paint-splotches, they seem to be in high enough spirits. "That was impressive, how you beat us during the last round." Triella praises your girl.

Claes nods in agreement "Though it was still an incredibly impatient method for the drill, in my opinion." as she continues trying to wipe the pink paint from the training clothes the cyborg had changed into.

Henrietta, however, is much less impressed. Having been ambushed and overpowered from behind while helping to move the objective most likely would have been bad enough. The fact that Scylla had gotten around you 'no gun' rule made it worse "I still dont think that was fair. You werent supposed to have a gun."

Scylla shrugs "I didnt,I just took advantage of your poor trigger control and physical condition."

"I'm not in poor shape, your just trained to-"

Treilla cuts Henrietta off "Stop arguing girls, its been a long afternoon, and at this rate one of you will say something REALLY stupid."

Claes straightens her glasses, which she had just placed back on her head, as she adds "Besides, on a mission, that would be a good move to make. You cant degrade Scylla for being intelligent." Both Scylla and Henrietta pout, but they do let the bickering drop as the group enters the dorms. After thanks and farewells for the night are passed around, the group disperses across the dorms.

-----

It is a few hours past dinner, and you are sitting in the op center, clicking around the internet. Scylla walks in, Claes' copy of The Illiad and the Odyssey in her hands, and the ghost of a confused look on her usually impassive face. She is cleaned up, though you can see the welt on her cheek from one of Henriettas retaliatory shots. "I... I cant understand all of the words in the book CLaes lent me, and was hoping you could help me." She announces after you turn around. "Also, I can make my report on what I observed today, if you are ready for it." she adds as you minimize the screen you had been on. You doubt she would know what a Constructor Set is, but, judging by the way she is staring at the tools you have set next to the computer, along with the small box of spare parts you have on the floor, she would have found out quickly enough.

Report first, then book explanations.

>You doubt she would know what a Constructor Set
Ah good. We are moving to get her started on a hobby. I suggest to make clear for her the hobby is hers, we don't push her on it. We show interest and throw ourselves into it if she approaches us to show things she made or wants help making or maybe more parts and tools. But we don't hound her to show us things.

Report first and give her the reason it is first. Namely the report is going to be shorter and after it is done with we can go over the book till an emergency or bedtime arrives.

And don't forget to buy her some clothes online.

You grin "Lets here your report first. It should go quicker, and then we can spend the rest of the evening doing what we wish, with work out of the way."

Scylla nods, before setting the book down next to your computer, and beginning "Henrietta is obsessed. With her handler, it seems more, extreme, than the other cyborgs I have seen in regards to their handlers. Rico was chastised by Jean for preforming poorly today, which is why she was bleeding from the lip when she sent you to the Directors office, and took me to Claes's room." Scylla pauses to take a breath, before continuing "Claes has no hndler, and none of the cyborgs remember her ever having one, though Triella remembered something that happened before he disappeared."

"Oh?" you prompt your young charge turning to face her.

Scylla nods, slowly "They had thought that I was out of earshot, and Triella tried to remind Henrietta about arguing with the other cyborgs around handlers and cameras. She mentioned an incident between Henrietta and Claes when they were both in training. After the altercation, both cyborgs were taken in for conditioning, neither of them claimed to remember the incident at all." Scylla explains. She pauses to look at you "Am, am I giving the report right this time? I heard some of the report staff reporting to Director Lorenzo earlier today, and realized that I wasnt talking formal enough in mine..." she trails off.

You chuckle again "Your doing quite well, Scylla. Continue." And she does, launching into the comings and goings of the support staff and what few Section One agents she passed. What they have been doing, what their food and drinks smelled like, their vices. It only takes half an hour, and most of the information is menial at best, but she did a good job.

Before you can get to the book Scylla had brought with her however, she asks "What project are you working on?"

You smirk at her curiosity "Some motion alarms for your stealth training. their just some laser pointers, speakers, and a bit of wire though. I'm hoping to buy some better ones online tonight."

Scylla looks back and forth from the tools and box of parts to her book, before asking "Can I help with them?"

You nod, and launch into a brief explanation of how they work, and how to use the soldering iron, small drill, and the few other tools you have for this project.

-----

By 11 o-clock, you find yourself in a rather uncomfortable position as you wait for Marco and Angelica to return. Scylla had proved eager to help with your project, halving the amount of time you had hoped it would last you. the four hours after that all went into helping Scylla through the Iliad and the Odyssey, which took some doing, to say the least. She was able to read it well enough, though with her frequent stops to ask how a word was pronounced, or what it meant made going slow until you had her read it aloud. By the time the Trojan Horse was being built, she had shifted into your lap to make it easier for you to tell her a words meaning, or follow along with her to ensure accuracy. By the time the city fell, so did Scylla, curling up in your lap to sleep, and looking entirely too cute for a multi-million euro killing machine.

Thus leading you to your current predicament. Unable to move for fear of stirring the peacefully slumbering cyborg, unable to feel your legs from her disproportionate weight, and in serious need of a restroom. Adding to that is your current boredom, having ordered all of the training aids you could foresee needing for Scylla, a large constructor set for the cyborg, and a decent variety of cloths for her to choose from.

And now the phone is ringing too.

Oh, shit, the emergency line is going off. You swiftly pick up the receiver to have Marcos angry, worried voice fill your ear "Have the doctors prepare to receive a badly damaged cyborg. Angelica's hurt." he pauses, and you can hear him shouting obscenities away from the phone, before he adds "And get a CS-000 form ready for me. I'm 15 minutes out." before hanging up.

Acting quickly, you hang up the phone, and hit the third button on the modified, 5 button phone, and, as soon as the line is live, you announce "Angelicas hurt, their on their way in."

"We'll be ready in the fourth surgery ward. Meet the handler at the main entrance, and help him get her to us. We're understaffed at this time of the night, but Dr. Bianchi should be in within an hour." before hanging up.

You begin to rut through the file cabinet, trying to find the form Marco requested. You find one, and set it on the desk in front of you. the header reads CS-000 INDEFINITE REMOVAL OF A CYBORG FROM THE COMBAT ROSTER.

"Oh, shit." is all you can muster after reading the form Marco had requested.

"James? what happened?" a groggy Scylla asks, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, your actions finally having stirred her.

>>375546
Tell Scylla firmly to go back to sleep/stay in her room and that you'll explain afterwards. This is not something she should see, at least so early in her cyborghood.
Then go down to the entrance and get ready to help out.

>>375546
Well, this is an interesting opportunity and a rare one. The medical bay is understaffed and could probably use a super-strong assistant; Scylla has never really been exposed to injuries or serious violence and could definitely use a clear view of the potential consequences of what we're doing here; we won't be able to hide the events of tonight from her anyway because she's super-detector. So I'm thinking that having her with us could be beneficial on several levels. Sure, there's a little risk of trauma- but this business is full of risk and we are expecting Scylla to literally punch out people's spines unhesitatingly on our command, so she needs to be able to take a little shock.

"Scylla, I need you to either go back to your room and go to sleep, or stay with me and remain calm, quiet, and absolutely obedient no matter what happens- and to tell no one except me about it. Do you understand? Choose."

She'll want to come with us, of course. She's curious and eager to please.

Move quickly for the bathroom; there won't be other opportunities to use it after Marco arrives. When we're done there get to the main entrance with the form and Scylla at our heels. She'll probably be the one who ends up carrying Angelica, unless Marco is in good enough condition to do it himself.

I say tell her the truth, She probably heard part of the conversation anyway. Also are their any guards in case they are being followed back? If so we should give the guards a quick ring and then head down to meet them. If not don't forget your guns on the way to meet them.

And on the report is Jean hitting Rico ,a multi-million euro killing machine,? If so I don't know if we should take this to our superior, another handler, Or try and talk to him ourselves.

>>375596
I agree. It is best she sees a possible consequence now. No doubt having her accompany us will require us to help her deal with it later. But I think it is better she learns this during training, when we have all the time to properly deal with it, than during an op.
>"Scylla, I need you to either go back to your room and go to sleep, or stay with me and remain calm, quiet, and absolutely obedient no matter what happens- and to tell no one except me about it. Do you understand? Choose."
Preface this with "It's an emergency."

>And on the report is Jean hitting Rico ,a multi-million euro killing machine,? If so I don't know if we should take this to our superior, another handler, Or try and talk to him ourselves.
Jean is our superior. Additionally I think the Ministry's most important concern is that the team of Handler and Cyborg don't go rogue and do the operations assigned to them. They are giving every Handler quite a lot of freedom on how to handle their cyborg, including disciplinary actions. Us included. It's necessary, too, since they are dealing with still maturing cyborgs, not robots.

>>375596
Yes, give Scylla the choice.

As for reporting Jean hitting Rico, I think we should wait for the second offense. Tell Scylla to watch out for that, and also ask if Rico seemed to be resentful of her.

You pause to calm yourself, before looking down to Scylla, and informing her "SCylla, there has been an emergency. YOu can either go to your room, sleep, and wait until I tell you what happened tomorrow. Or, you can help, but you must follow any order given exactly, hold you questions until I say its okay to ask, and stay out of the way when not helping."

Scylla slides down to the ground, and replies "I can help... why do you have that form out on the desk?" she asks, worriedly.

You purse your lips "Angelica was hurt on her mission today. Badly. We need to help get her to the infirmary as soon as she arrives with Marco, and he wants to fill this form out for her."

Scylla nods "What do we do first then?"

You force a laugh "Well, with you sleeping on my legs for so long, I wake them up by going to the bathroom, then we go to the main entrance and wait for Marco and Angelica to arrive." Scylla simply nods, and follows you.

-----

When Marco tears in to the parking lot, you think for a moment that he had simply drove through the front gate, though, the sound of it clanging shut int he distance reassures you that that isnt the case. He opens the door, and tersely orders "Help me move her." You nod to Scylla who slides in under the panicked handler and gently lifts the horrifically wounded cyborg bridal style, so as to not aggravate the gaping wound in her stomach.

"What happened?" you ask Marco as you hand him the form he requested, the two of you following Scylla, who is moving at a brisk power-walk, her footing sure despite the leaking blood.

Marco looks at the ruined, mangled remnant of Angelicas leg, up to the bullet wounds in her gut and chest, her missing arm, face delirious with pain. "She fucked up. forgot her training and just dove through a door, it was trapped. A few shrapnel bombs on a motion detector, cost her the arm she is missing, and ruined her leg. The last men in the cell we were taking down had large calibur guns, .50 calibur. I took them down, but not until Angelica took the bullets for both her and me."

"But, you were on the-"

"Urban assault course yesterday." the rain-soaked man finishes for you.

Scylla looks ready to turn to say something, but Angelica groans in pain, re-capturing your girls attention "Dont worry... you'll be just fine, Angelica."

Angelica groans in pain again as Scylla crosses the threshold to the emergency ward. "Marco... I, I'm sorry." Angelica gasps out as Scylla sets her on the bed, the nightshift doctor and his nurse already moving towards her.

"Scylla, strap Angelica down, and strap her down tight." the doctor orders, gesturing to the straps on the bed as the nurse hands him a syringe.

"Damn drugs." Marco growls as the doctor administers the injection, eliciting a gasp from Angelica before her tense body relaxes.

The doctor nods "That dose of the conditioning drugs should leave her susceptible to painkillers, and I hope wont affect her memory, if I read Dr. Bianchis chart right. James, Marco, if you could leave the ward, Scylla, take Angelicas cloths and join them please. I need to take her leg off and dont want to risk infection." the doctor instructs as the nurse hands Scylla her comrades tattered, bloody cloths.

Once you are all outside the ward, the doctor wastes no time in getting to work. "She needs the things to live, but..." Marco trails off, leaving the thought he had began before the doctor chased you all from the room unfinished.

"But what?" Scylla prompts, unable to peel her eyes from the surgical ward as the doctor begins removing the remnants of Angelicas left leg.

"Thanks for getting me that form James." Marco replies, voice dead as he walks away from the observation deck.

"What was Marco going to say?" Scylla asks you, her worry smashing through her usually impassive mask with gusto. You know what he left unsaid, that the drugs are needed by the cyborgs to function, but they kill them just as surely.

"Dont worry about it, I'm sure its something that will be worked out long before its an issue for you." you reply as a second nurse rushes in, her hair disheveled and eyes bleary.

"Why did Marco leave?" Scylla asks as the doctor begins to remove bullets from Angelicas stomach.

You purse your lips, and wrap an arm around Scylla "Because sometimes, its hard to watch the ones we care about in pain. You should sleep now, there's nothing else we can do."

Scylla looks up at you "Can, can we stay for her?" she asks "I dont think its right for her to be alone for this."

You smile sadly, and reply "Sure. If you want to." Scylla simply nods, and moves closer to the glass to watch. By the time Dr. Bianchi arrives, the bleeding is under controll, and the bullets are all out. Of course, the night shift doctor steps aside to let Bianchi finish stabilising Angelica. That task is just being finished an hour later, when you ask scylla "When you were talking with Rico, did she sound like Jean strikes her alot, or that it made her feel bad?"

Scylla looks to you from the ward, and yawns, before replying "She seemed more surprised that that isnt how we were chastised... but it didnt seem to bug her either, why?"

You shrug "I want you to pay extra attention to Rico. If it seems like Jean is hitting her more, I want you to let me know, okay?"

Scylla nods, and stretches as the night Doctor exits the ward "Angelica will be fine, if you were wondering. I was on my way to tell Marco. We arent going to connect her new arm and leg until tomorrow though, we're just going to put her under for now." before walking along in search of the cyborg in questions handler.

>do you want to continue directly selecting Scyllas daily training, or keep up with your current selections and skip ahead a week to see where she is at?
>If more manual selection, what next, if not, what, if anything, do you want to add to the mix?

>do you want to continue directly selecting Scyllas daily training, or keep up with your current selections and skip ahead a week to see where she is at?
Either works for me.

I want to expand the Stealth training to include more trapping, both avoidance and setting traps. And start the sense lessons on explosives, the forest and auditory training on guns(cocking, (silenced) firing, reloading). Otherwise I am okay with the direction of the current setup.

>>375640
>do you want to continue directly selecting Scyllas daily training, or keep up with your current selections and skip ahead a week to see where she is at?
Skip ahead a week with our current regimen of stealth, awareness, melee, and ranged. The downside to timeskipping is lack of ability to closely monitor her personal and social development, but hopefully that's not too huge of a problem.

In stealth training, push her to be as sneaky as possible, involve multiple people that she may or may not know about moving in unexpected ways and doing unexpected things, mix in traps set for her, cameras all over the place, other cyborgs as opposition if we can get them, and communication/coordination with us and other members of a team using the communicators we ordered. Set varying and more stringent objectives, like not being seen at all or replacing something with a replica without anyone else realizing it. Don't let her use weapons other than hand-to-hand yet.

In awareness training continue to emphasize attention to detail, provide her with any new scents that we can think of, familiarize her with the sound of all the weapons we can get our hands on being reloaded, cocked, fired, and so forth, try to get her to identify different people by their gaits and voices, have her work through disruptive noises and scents of various sorts to try and fight against any potentially overwhelming sensations.

In melee training, push defensive actions hard with a sideline in using her strength and speed as a brutally fast offense to rapidly overwhelm and eliminate her opponents. Once we're confident that she's doing well, consider issuing her a combat knife and teaching her to use it.

In ranged training, drill the basics endlessly. She should be able to reload her weapons in her sleep- or while running full tilt- and hit center mass at expected ranges every time. Have her learn to use silencers and suppressors on her weapons.

Hobby wise, answer any questions she asks if we're not working, and help her with whatever she wants. Encourage her to be curious and communicative when alone with us and restrained, obedient, and observant when we are both in the company of others. Keep having her tell us whatever she manages to learn, and mix in some probing questions that we think she should be able to answer when she gives us information to encourage her to gather more details and do better.

Aside from that, try to maintain good relationships with as many other handlers as possible. We need to get some more information on the timing of this latest problem- how long did it take for Angelica to start losing memory so badly?- and the cyborg life cycle in general. Learn about past missions, how they went, difficulties encountered and overcome. We need more information if we want to do this properly.

If I can add, make sure she always has a good book to read. The Illyad and Oddessy were an excellent started. I'm thinking that maybe constant learning might help these cyborgs maintain their memory longer, help fighting off the memory loss issue that comes with heavy condition and damage.

Handler !0kBZGgt33M 2011/12/30(Fri)15:53 No. 376276 ID: 8816f8
File 132528921008.png - (20.43KB , 319x863 , Scyllastats2.png )

The next few days pass uneventfully. In the mornings you train Scylla in self defense or hone her senses. In the afternoons you drill her with firearms or work on her stealth skills. And now you sit at your desk in the early hours, before most of the agency wakes up or arrives finishing your first week report on Scyllas progress for Director Lorenzo.

"Scyllas ability to defend herself in close combat is acceptable, though her offensive skills are still lacking somewhat. Our sparring matches have become increasingly intense, and she often leaves me more bruised than I do her by the end of them now.

Scyllas heightened senses training has put her are approximately on par with the skill of a partially trained hunting dog. She can discern notable amounts of intoxicants, or explosives, and can recognize gunpowder and oil. She can hear and identify a weapon being loaded, or cocked at 50 yards, and recognize noises that are 'out of place' in several different settings. However, when she is distracted she cannot reliably do any of this.

Her stealth training progressed very well, and she can easily move past up to 3 trained guards once she can discern their patrol pattern. She moves almost silently as a habit now, though her ability to choose a good path when moving stealthily is lacking yet.

Her firearms training is progressing excellently. Scylla is able to service her weapons in less time than the standards held by most nations special forces. As far as accuracy, she always strikes the target, and roughly one third of those are bulls-eyes or killing hits, depending on target. When the target or cyborg is moving she hits the target sixty percent of the time, and scores a bulls-eye or a killing hit forty percent of the time."

You stretch, yawn, and take a drink of orange juice. the report looks good, you think. Accurate, concise, and professional, it tells the director exactly what the truth is. That you and Scylla have worked your asses off this past week, and she is making great progress. You rub at your bruised shoulder and chuckle, you will need to find her a better sparring partner than yourself soon, and start her on knife training. That, and her sensory training are the two things that are going to prove difficult from here out. The latter because you can only expose her to so much in its proper contect here at the Agency headquarters.

What annoys you about that fact the most, is that none of the other handlers have any idea on how to proceed in your situation. Bernardo is planning to take Beatrice with her when he leaves the complex tonight, but you have no clue what he will be doing with her.

You look over at the box in the corner of your office. Scyllas new cloths and her constructor set, along with the cameras, motion detectors, and other training supplies you ordered. finishing your bagel, you collect the sheet of paper, and set off for Lorenzos office. About halfway there, you run into Bernardo and Lauro, both of whom are coming down the hallway from the opposite direction, reports in hand. "Morning Jim, turning in your report?" Bernardo asks far to cheerily for 8AM.

You simply nod in response as Lauro asks "So, what did you get your cyborg?"

"Cloths and a constructor kit, I'm surprised it took so long for that to get here." you reply, falling into step with the other new handlers as you round the corner for the hallway that leads to the directors office.

Berardo shrugs "Nothing actually gets shipped here save food, and the other supplies they need for the cover orphanage. I'm going to let Bice get a new wardrobe if she does well in her dry run tonight."

Lauro grins, and turns to the bigger man "So, your going scum-hunting tonight too?"

You chuckle as you open the door. Being a saturday most of the office workers will show up late, but you cant be sure about Lorenzo. "So thats where the two of you were, signing your cyborgs out." you note, getting a few dry stares from your peers.

"No, we were puking, still hung over, cant you smell it on us?" Lorenzo replies sarcastically. He sighs, and drops his report, about as long as yours, on your bosses desk "I still cant believe Lorenzo wants these on his desk before he shows up today."

"On a saturday of all days too." Bernardo crows in agreement "Though, our girls waking up on a saturday does have its benefits I suppose."

You chuckle "Like an excuse to go out drinking the night before?" you ask as the three of you begin walking for the cyborgs dorms.

Lauro nods, grinning "Plus it makes it easier to be out in Rome with them as well. Most people do have the weekends off, after all." he adds, though the second part clearly tasted bitter on his tongue.

You sigh, and let it slide. Lauro still looks at Elsa as a tool, and a necessity of work. However, as all of your discussions with him on the topic this last week went nowhere, you decide to not start the day with an argument.

Bernardo is about to say something, but your cyborgs round the corner before he can open his mouth. The three of them are walking in silence, as common for them as it is to see them together during their downtime. "Visiting Angelica." Beatrice answers before Bernardos question can be asked.

Scylla and Elsa both nod, though Elsa does not seem terribly happy about having been brought along. "We're going to eat now." the blond cyborg adds matter-of-factly. Angelica, the oldest cyborg, and unless things change, a preview of the fate of all the cyborgs. It had taken time, but you got what information you wanted out of Marco. She has been a cyborg for four years now, and is solidly in the middle of the predicted death time-frame for them. About six months ago, she started forgetting small things, and it has been slowly building ever since. You had planned to ask how quickly it escalated from small things to big ones, but Hillshire had stopped you.

The man was becoming increasingly annoying of late. On one hand, you understand why having the girls be taught like regular children is beneficial, you just weren't sure if you wanted to loose training time with Scylla this early for her to start attending the classes. Scylla sniffs at the air "Were you out drinking last night?" she asks, walking over to the three of you as the small group enters the cafeteria, and smelling each of you. Before long, Beatrice is joining the smaller cyborg, and nods, confirming Scyllas assumption before any of you can answer her. Your girl continues "Bernardo had the most, then Lauro and finaly James... though there is some other smell on Bernardo that I dont recognize." Scylla looks up to you, most would say her gaze was blank, but you can see the pride and hope in her look. she observed, identified, and reported, exactly what you wanted her to do.

Before you can congratulate her on being right Beatrice adds "Its a woman. different from the other ones I've smelled on him." Bernardo chuckles nervously at his cyborgs comment, clueing you in to her correctness.

"I take it James drank the least because he could handle the least?" Elsa asks as the six of you sit at a table to eat.

Lauro shakes his head "Actually, he claims to be able to drink both Bernardo and I under the table, but we havent seen it yet."

You shrug "If it werent for me, the cabby would never have known where to take us. So be thankful that I havent put you in your places yet." is your reply, slightly emboldened by Scyllas lack of reaction to the slight scent of alcohol still on you, apparently.

The rest of the meal passes uneventfully, and, at the end of it Scylla asks "What is our plan for today, James?" as she pushes her empty tray back. In the corner of your eye, you notice Hillshire walking towards the group, looking like a man on a mission. That mission, being related to the dvds in his left hand. You know that he had planned to have the girls watch several film versions of a novel they had just finished reading in the literature class he teaches them, and compare the works afterwards.

You assume his intent is to get your girls started on their schooling today, as it being a weekend lends to a lazy atmosphere and attitude. He adds to that the argument that simply watching a film is fairly light duty academically, and the prospective 'new' students will be able to simply compare several versions of the story, and not be penalized for not incorporating the book in their report. Lauro and Bernardo both cave in, so long as they get their girls back before 4pm, as they have plans for the girls tonight. "Well Jim, are you going to let Scylla watch a movie with the other girls?" Bernardo asks as the rest of the group waits on your response. You hadn't had anything planned yet for today, but you also know that you need to get Scylla her cloths and gift as well some time today.

Well, if we don't have any plans, and the girls will be free at 4pm, then letting Scylla watch a film can't hurt. Right?

Also, how's reading the Illiad progressing? Did Scylla bring up the topic of her name again?

Everyone else is watching, might as well let her join them.

>>376276
>On one hand, you understand why having the girls be taught like regular children is beneficial
You know, I don't understand why having them be taught like regular children is beneficial. They are not regular children; a regular education is for someone whose remaining years of life take more than one hand to count out. They need constant specialized training suited for their purpose; anything outside of that is only important for the maintenance of morale, socialization and bonding with the other cyborgs, or their psychological health- which can be better addressed by team training activities and studies in reasonably useful hobbies which Scylla has shown interest in, conducted by us personally.

Literature readings, movie viewings, and report writings under someone else are a waste of Scylla's valuable time. Hillshire can teach his own cyborg that sort of thing if he finds it constructive, but unless he's got the rank to pull on us- which I don't think he does- or he can offer valid, compelling reasons that it's not a total waste of time, then we should stop having Scylla participate in his classes and use the time for more time spent under our own auspices instead; training preferably, but even just sitting around talking to her about random things and teaching her whatever she's curious about would produce a better result.


Sign Scylla out for the day and take her to a nearby sizable city. Wander around and have her observe things and talk to us about them; there will be far more input there than there is at the complex and she'll inevitably be able to learn tons of new things which should serve to aid her awareness training. Much as constant practice and drill is essential for stealth and combat training, only lots of time and experience devoted to this is going to bring her to peak ability. As she's doing that, we can also talk with her about... whatever comes to mind, or she wants to talk about. Find out a little more about how she thinks.

>>376738
That is actually a very good argument and I am swayed by it.
However, while it might be a total waste of time, it is run by our superior and as far as we can tell EVERY single other cyborg is participating. To make her the only exclusion might alienate her from them. Furthermore we are having her perform intelligence gathering on the others which this can assist with.

I suggest perhaps bringing up the concerns AFTERWARDS in PRIVATE and asking him to explain himself and potentially discussing this with our superior would be a better course of action then throwing down right here right now.

>>376738
First, the class setup gives them some normal experiences they can talk in civilian or enemy hearing about. A group of children complaining about the latest assignment for classwork or a teacher is quite normal. And since they have experienced directly it will be genuine and convincing.

Second, it's important what books and movies Hillshire covers in his lectures. Under the condition Hillshire chooses the covered books and movies carefully, the work can provide intellectual insight into 'normal' people. It won't do much for the emotional intelligence, but it will help the cyborgs by giving them a basis to analyze and understand the behavior of others.

So for now I'll support Scylla going to view the movie. But we should check with Scylla what the lessons covered and talk with Hillshire about his selection of topics for class.

I can give some reasons we want classical education. These girls need to be fairly well adjusted or their innocuous appearance ceases to be an asset. If they can't put up the act of being normal, then their appearance is instead a liability. Teaching them to act normally by offering them normal activities and education is only smart.

As for the training, I agree we should have an off site sensory training session. She should go out into the world and get to recognize vehicles, animals, people, she needs to be exposed to real world situations so she doesn't overload trying to analyze every little odor when she goes out to work. So we might as well go out now and get used to it. We might also want to sniff out some criminals she can practice on, though having a lead on something ahead of time would be smart.

As for knife training... that's hard. To start, blunted blades with armor... but she'll need to actually get into knife fights for her to really get any good.

>>376754
>First, the class setup gives them some normal experiences they can talk in civilian or enemy hearing about.
Yet since Scylla is a stealth/ambusher spec, the chances of her being called upon to make innocuous conversation while being observed by the enemy are vanishingly small. Further, she already has her relatively innocuous hobbies to talk about, and the reading that she's done under our purview; she doesn't need additional material to fulfill this objective.

>the work can provide intellectual insight into 'normal' people
Scylla can get a lot more insight into the thought and behavior of normal people by following them around and using her superior senses to monitor their actions than by reading and writing about old books and watching movies.

>>376755
>Teaching them to act normally by offering them normal activities and education is only smart.
I disagree. Sitting in classes and writing papers is not the optimal method for learning to imitate a normal person; once again, that is going out and observing and then imitating normal people. There are very few circumstances where Scylla will need to maintain a cover for more than a few minutes, and she can handle that sort of duration based upon dress and appearance alone, coupled with a few basic operating parameters for social interaction (teaching her to act shy around strangers would be a good one; it's easy and effective). Sitting in class is a very suboptimal use of time to accomplish the objective you propose.

>As for knife training... that's hard. To start, blunted blades with armor... but she'll need to actually get into knife fights for her to really get any good.
Good ideas. I'm hoping that we'll be able to rope other people into acting as her instructors in this- there's a whole more standard special forces section attached to our black ops agency, right? Surely they've got bucketloads of expert melee fighters; we should be able to dragoon at least one into teaching our girl some serious knifework. After seeing what happened to Angelica I don't want to send Scylla into a combat situation until we're reasonably confident that she'll whomp her foes and emerge unscathed.

>>376919
Stealth is not just sneaking. Blending is the other major part of Stealth. A part where Scylla is virtually untrained as of yet.
And even, especially, as stealth/ambush spec her mission will not be limited to "here is the target, go kill it". Surveillance, covering exists and following runners will most likely be frequent assignments, too. Those missions require blending and the shy girl routine is very limited.
The classes also give the cyborgs shared experiences. And since they have to interpret and comment on the books and movies, they are revealing much of their own view of the world to the others. Discussion in class helps them to articulate their impressions and observations and makes them more familiar with each other and each other's positions.

A lot of how useful the classes will be depends on exactly how they are done. That and not excluding her from her year group are the reasons why I am for Scylla joining the classes for the movies today. After that we should check with Scylla how that lesson went and question Hillshire on his topics. Then we can decide if Hillshire's lessons will be a recurring part of Scylla's week or not.

Remember, we wanted her to do urban recon. That doesn't mean just buildings... we are training her to listen in on conversation and to ferret out info via conversation. A spy and an assassin. Knowing how to talk to people does help.

You sigh "4pm I want her back."

Scyllas face shows a ghost of a grin, before she turns to Hillshire and says "I need to return Claes' book to her, so I need to go and get that first." you simply nod and begin to make your way to your room here at the SWA.

You are thinking about what exactly you will do once you and Scylla reach the city when Hillshires voice interrupts your thoughts "James, I'm glad you came around. Its best for Scylla... and the girls deserve at least an attempt at normalcy."

You turn to appraise the man, he doesnt look winded, or even put off, but you know that he went out of his way to come to talk to you. "How so?" you ask, curious.

"Something that has been built up takes longer to tear down, or at least that's what I believe" Hillshire answers. COnfused, you raise an eyebrow, prompting the man to continue "Triella and I came to the SWA a few months after Angelica and Marco started going on missions. For, personal reasons I started giving Triella light literature lectures once a week or so, something Marco hadn't been doing. When the other fratellos joined they sided with me, and not Marco. Angelica has been to at most two dozen my literature classes, Jeans 'applied physics' and geometry classes, and Jose's history classes."

"And?" you ask, still not drawing the connection.

"Triella, who, if the pace Angelica has moved at is a benchmark, should already be starting to forget early missions, training incidents and such. Her memory is perfectly fine." he forces a bitter laugh "And now Marco has Angelica attending every class we run for the girls, which granted is only one or two a week, but he's making an effort to slow the decay."

You nod, understanding "At this point it seems more like trying to build a sandcastle while the tide is coming in."

The german nods in agreement. "Besides, having dragged these girls into this world... any bit of normalcy we can get them is worth it. We owe them that much at least." You simply nod in response, as the man you had been speaking with turns to run his class.

You get a few things done between sending Scylla off to a class and her return. You requisition a pair of combat knives, and a few pairs of more easily concealable knifes fro training, and dull the hell out of them. While you do that you think. You know that your skill with knives is negligible at best. You have a few friends that you could conceivably call in to help train the girl, but that could lead toa whole mess of other problems with the Director, and quite possibly your first choice, as the man you have in mind is more than a bit of a white knight, and would no doubt try to take down the SWA as soon as he saw what was being done. After him come one of your old flames, and an amoral bastard that you still drank with regularly when he wasnt off in Spain working for your boss.

So, 4pm sneaks up on you, Scylla silently entering the room, and plopping down next to you. The first thing she notices are the knives "What are they for?" she asks, inclining her head at the switchblade, combat knife, and butterfly knife on your table.

"The next step in your close combat training, once your ready for it." you reply, rolling the knives up in a small towel. Scylla nods, and falls to silence, waiting for you to tell her what tonight's plan is. You sigh, and walk over to the shipping crate in the corner, and slide it to the center of the room "Its all yours."

Scylla timidly moves towards the box, and, pulling a plastic cafeteria knife from her pocket, slices the tape free. She then proceeds to freeze, and smile. Not one of the hints of a grin she sometimes sports, or hinted mirth at a funny, but not crushingly so joke, but a full blown smile. And a big one at that "Its... its really for me? Why?"

You chuckle, and ruffle the girls hair, and she is too shocked to protest like she normally does "Because you worked hard this last week, and deserve it. Now go change and meet me at the front gate when your ready. Your training today will be away from the compound." Scylla nods happily, lifts the box, and scurries off to her room, still grinning.

It is nearly twenty minutes before Scylla meets you at the gate, and you know exactly why. The constructor kit had been at the bottom of the box, you put it there after taping it shut after all. Scylla emerges from the main building clad in a tan pair of cargo pants and a plain black shirt, a hint of nervousness on her face. "Did you forget to take something out of the box you gave me?" she asks, falling into step with you as you begin to walk towards your vehicle, an old H1 that you liberated from one of the PMCs that fell apart around you, its in excellent shape, and you have modified the hell out of it, so the gas mileage hit doesn't bother you all that much. "Because there was a steel case in it, and the case had three small drills, scrwedrivers, a rivet gun, soddering iron, screws nuts, bolts, rivets, sheet metal, wiring, several small motors, and-"

You put your hand on her shoulder, silencing the girl as you reply "No, its yours. Consider it a gift, since you seemed so interested in tinkering." again, she lights up with an actual smile, and a big one.

The ride to Rome is a quiet one, but comfortable. Scylla next speaks when you park your truck at the outskirts of downtown Rome. From here you could either go down into the dirtier underbelly of the city, or, wander the nice, clean, touristy area of the city, or, go a bit further and visit the downtown Rome that the locals frequent. "What are we doing now, James?" Scylla asks, stretching as she hops from your vehicle.

"Now we walk around, and I'm answering tons of your questions."

Something about the knife was bugging me, but I couldn't put my finger on what till I reread Scylla's history. Scylla got attacked and her mother got killed with a knife. We need to be careful here. Both the ex-flame and the old drinking mate have their issues.

Going with the drinking mate can put a strain on her conditioning and may result in an episode. Could we convince him to cut down his drinking something drastic while training Scylla? On the other hand once she regularly wins against him, we should have defused that trigger.
Going with the ex-flame presents Scylla with a clear competitor for our time. It gets worse if the ex-flame wants to rekindle the old relationship. We'll have to juggle Scylla and the ex-flame so neither feels neglected or slighted.
For now I am kind of undecided. If one them can also teach stick or rope fighting, or even all three, I would go for that one and deal.

Let's start with the nice, clean touristy area. We just move around watch people, see the sights and answer Scylla's questions. I also want to include a question about how she liked the lesson and get her to talk about what happened during the lesson. Mainly so I can get an idea of how Hillshire conducts his lessons.

>>377197
>Hillshire's talk about classes and memory loss
What he's saying is entirely speculation; he's got a sample size of two girls and there are a myriad of other differences between Triella and Angelica which might be responsible for the apparent disparity.

However, if he is right, the essence of his conclusion is that mental stimulation and effort results in a mind more resistant to conditioning decay. If this is so, then the best thing we can do for Scylla's mind is to push her hard in trainings which engage her mentally as much as possible and force her to constantly think, to remember accurately, to analyze and interpret data properly. She doesn't need a class where she sits back and watches movies, she needs a tutoring regimen from hell that can forge her mind into pure steel. Make a mental note to emphasize these skills more in her training from now on pending a more serious solution later.

As far as owing them normalcy... they aren't normal, and don't deserve the wretched parody of it that is all we could really give them. Thinking that we can somehow undo what's been done in a small way is foolish, though I wouldn't want to tell him that to his face. What they deserve is personalized care and attention which properly accounts for their own unique nature and the physical, mental, and emotional requirements associated with it.

>call in friends for knife fighting training
We work for a black ops agency that will literally murder us if we try to leave. We should not be bringing random friends into this without approval. Our boss has a vested interest in seeing Scylla become as deadly as possible; if we use official channels to either get someone assigned to help teach her or get official leave to bring one or more of our own contacts into Scylla's training, in which case at least we don't have all the blame fall on our heads if something goes wrong.

The other handlers should be able to give us some advice on how to get something like this done properly- unless they've never tried to have their cyborgs learn something they themselves don't already know, which seems odd to me.

>"What are we doing now, James?"
Go to either the touristy area or the locals' area. This evening is for awareness training- to expose Scylla to the sights, sounds and smells of the city. We'll have to cover all of them eventually. Push her to identify everything she can, to guess at what she can't and then try to confirm her guesses independently. Have her watch people, particularly any girls around her age, and observe how they act; note that imitating others to fit in is another form of stealth and she should be thinking about it now even though we haven't reached that part of our training yet.

Answer whatever questions she asks; try to keep her mostly focused on the awareness training bit but there's nothing wrong with a little bit of topic drift.

Stay in the city until late at night, when the streets are all but empty of people. Tell Scylla to try to observe all the differences between the sounds and smells of the city at the different times of day. We'll need to bring her out here repeatedly at all hours in the future to ready her for urban missions at any time.

I disagree, we should be encouraging her to learn in the classical sense, and letting her take as many of these classes as are held. That same acute awareness will come more naturally to her if she has a broader understanding of the world, and a classical education offers that.

And we should be offering any brand of normalcy we can. Why not? What is it costing her? It won't soften her, and just shutting off any attempt at it is going to alienate her eventually. Cyborgs don't seem perfectly stable.

>>377485
> siiting back and watching movies
Maybe you read it diffeent than I, but the movie lesson consisted of watching with the task to compare two different makes of the same story and compare them with each other and the book they are based on. And work out what those differences do to the story, respectively how they are achieved. That's not sitting back. That's something we want her to be able to do. We want her to be able to use the same facts to spin a different interpretation and we want her to be able to take an interpretation and extract the facts from it.

>tutoring regime from hell
Unless you think depth makes up for breadth, I don't, whatever time we 'save' from not sending her to the lessons, we will have to spend teaching her ourselves and we will have to spend time to research what we teach her. I also think all 'normal' lessons combined remain less than 10 hours a week, which I think we can accept.
I think it better to check Hillshire's lessons and if necessary make suggestions for things we want to add. I don't think Hillshire will ignore a well reasoned suggestion.

>We work for a black ops agency that will literally murder us if we try to leave. We should not be bringing random friends into this without approval.
We know bringing firends in can bring us in trouble with the director. And clearly we should ask before we bring them in. But I don't think the Ministry has people aside from other Handlers we want in prolonged contact with Scylla. Why do you think they take outsiders as Handlers? I think because the long-time Ministry people cannot see the girl in the cyborg and treat them accordingly.

Another problem I see is that the classes are one of the major bonding opportunities outside of ops. Scylla and we won't always sent on ops on our lonesome. IIRC no more than half the missions will be for only one Fratellos.

There is another issue I see with your course of doing everything ourselves. We, James Artioum, are on probation here as well. We aren't a trusted longtime operative on the Ministry. Focusing Sylla as exclusively on us with as few bonds and contacts to other cyborgs as you seem to desire will not be seen with friendly eyes in the Ministry. If we are lucky we will get a warning from Jean first. If we aren't, James Artioum will really disappear and Scylla gets reconditioned.

>>377485
upvoting everything.

Also, we need to talk to our superiors for scientific collection of statistical data on education types in relation to memory loss due to the speculation and the fact it is actively being done by the others. This should be scientific.
Furthermore I would think a greater aspect of this is the conditioning drugs, what amounts did the two cyborgs in question take compared to each other? Can the dose be lowered? Are there alternatives for girls with enhancements? Talk to the scientists working on that aspect.

You chuckle "Now, we walk around the city, and you observe." pausing for drama, you snark "And I answer a lot of questions."

Scyllas face lights in a half grin, her eyes slightly twinkling with mirth as she replies "I cant help that you only tell me about what I ask about" as you begin to lead her into the tourist district.

Shaking your head you reply "Only because I can barely keep up with your questions normally. Now, how was Hillshires lesson, how did he run the class?"

Scylla pauses to think, before responding "He started by outlining the novel for Elsa, Bice and I... and maybe Rico, she looked confused. THen we watched the first film, it was the first take on the novel and done in 1952, it was... boring to me." Scylla pauses again, watching a gaggle of excited high-schoolers walk past surreptitiously... save for breaking conversation, before continuint "He then allowed us to discuss the film, amongst ourselves, and finish our notes before the second film was played. It was a cartoon version of the story from the late 80's." she pauses again, this time to breathe, before adding "It was stupid. After another break for discussion, and a meal, we watched a recent release of the story... which barely stayed true to the book, according to what the other girls said during our third discussion session."

again Scylla breaks conversation to watch a couple at a restaurant, and sniff at the air. So you correct her "Keep talking as you observe, and do your best to hide the smelling. It makes you stand out, which could be disastrous."

Your cyborg nods, before finishing "Then we wrote our papers and Hillshire set to grading them. He said that the next assignment from him was going to be a group project in class... something about a playwright called Shakespeare." Again she pauses to breathe before adding "It was an interesting story, and I wouldnt mind reading the book... but the collection of Greek myths I borrowed from Claes will be more interesting, I think. will I be allowed to continue to attend the classes?"

You ponder for a bit as Scylla continues to observe, looking more and more strained to keep up with everything around her in the increasingly crowded tourist district "Perhaps. The discussions, how involved was Hillshire?"

Scylla shrugs, her nose lingering in the direction of a French bistro you pass, her eyes barely furrowing, and face falling a bit "He kept us on pace, and took his own notes. Mostly when the girls who had read the book were being general about its details with main plot points. He did prompt more conversation when we ran out of things to talk about, but that was it."

You nod, and begin to fall into the familiar routine of answering the increasingly overwhelmed Scyllas questions as you walk. The scents and sounds of different foods, how couples are acting, if pairs even are couples... the stream is almost endless. Well after sunset both your and your cyborgs grumbling stomachs lead you to a small cafe straddling the increasingly deserted tourist district. Scylla is generally able to spot couples as opposed to pairs of friends, as well as leaders in larger groups, but prediction and mood reading are still mostly beyond her at this point. "James, how do I know if a pair that looks like a couple really is a couple, and where are we going next?"

You smirk "That will come with experience, but as a rule of thumb, if they dont look much like a couple until they notice that they are being watched, that is a good tell." You incline your head to a couple, as you ponder how to spend the rest of the night. Scyla taps her pointer and middle finger together on the table, then blinks her right than left eye, a simple sign the two of you had developed over the day that simply translates to couple, in disagreement. You agree with her, and nod at the increasingly less overwhelmed girl. she had seemed ready to burst for a while, but, now that the sun is but a memory, and the Roman nightlife is beginning she seems ready for more of this mental exercise.

A clamor from a few blocks down signifies what is likely the first of many fights to spill out of the bars on this Saturday night. Whether its just friends working out a disagreement or a serious brawl, you cant be sure, but you know for a fact that Scylla would not be able to tell even if she saw yet. You sip at your water to buy yourself a bit more time to think, and to shield yourself from Scyllas response-starved gaze.

I'm... not sure. Do we really want to make her fight in a real brawl so early in the training?

A compromise might be as follows: relocate to a bar, wait for a fight, then make Scylla point out fighters' mistakes. Of course, if the fight comes too close to you, she has permission to defend herself (and maybe you too).

>>378933
I don't think Scylla will be allowed inside a bar. Probably batter to go to a cafè or restaurant and watch the fights as they spill on the streets. That would also be an opportunity to let Scylla watch police breaking up a brawl.

>>378952
upvotey

this would also be a good example to explain to her different kinds of fights. from friends working out disparagement's to serous brawls, as well as let her see how one breaks up a fight without killing anyone.

>>378601
There's a lot of night ahead of us. It's not unreasonable to think that Scylla will be called on to do urban jobs during the night hours, so we should be planning to stay out until maybe three in the morning here so that she gets a good sense of the city well into the nighttime. We'll have to come out here shortly after midnight sometime so that we can watch the city wake up and go into morning and from there to afternoon.

Scylla's definitely not ready to do any actual fighting right now, but we can observe fights and point out things about them- notes on how serious they are, how drunk the participants are, and important external items as well- police response if we can see it, the reactions of spectators, the amount of attention that the noise of fighting attracts.

There are plenty of other aspects of night life that she needs to know and recognize, though. Look at how the sounds of the city change, how traffic patterns shift, how the sort of people on the street and the moods of those people shift with the hour. Watch the restaurants close until only the bars are open. Watch police cars if we see any and look at what they do.

I guess the gist of this is just "keep watching, answering questions, and pointing out things that might not immediately occur to Scylla". Consider buying the both of you coffee as the hour gets late; preferably good coffee out of deference to her sensitive sense of taste. She won't be learning much if she's falling asleep.

After your meals are finished, you announce to your cyborg "And now, we watch how a city looks at night. Note the differences, observe the fights, and stay awake until we leave for the SWA compound."

Scylla nods, and follows you, a bit closer than earlier in the day, as you descend deeper into the main run of bars and nightclubs frequented by the locals. By the time you find a decent all night cafe, with a good view of a few bars, Scylla is more relaxed, and has been watching the city at night for the better part of an hour. Passing a third friendly scuffle, Scylla asks "Are all civilians such terrible fighters?"

You smirk, surprised that she noticed so quickly "No, those are just friends settling their diferences. Notice that they tend to stay together after things are broken up, and hardly throw any proper punches."

Scylla nods "Shoving and shouting, nothing that will incapacitate or injure in the long term." You hear what is coming next as you are about to pass the last bar between yourself and your target cafe.

Scylla doesn't, and is nearly bowled over when the man is hurled through the window. A few seconds later, the cursing, bleeding Frenchmen is accosted by a very angry looking German, by stereotypical German standards at that, wielding a broken bottle of what looks to be Jack Daniels. A few moments later a few more men, mostly French and Germans spill through the doors or the broken windows. Must be an argument over a soccer match, you muse to yourself, as you almost hypocritically mumble "Fucking tourists." while guiding Scylla past the brawl. Once you reach the cafe, you ask the cyborg "I take it you noticed the difference between that and the other fights?"

Scylla giggles "Yes I did. I take it thats what we are going to do from here?"

You nod, while ordering a pot of coffee. Once the waitress leaves, you add "Here come the police. I want you to observe this, and the other peoples reaction to the whole scene. After that, watch the diner, and the streets for more fights."

The cyborg nods, not even noticing the coffee on the table until the entire ordeal is over. Blinking a few times upon turning to face you, she asks "Whats in the pot?"

"Coffee, it helps keep you awake. We have creme, sugar and milk at the table too, if you dislike the taste." Much to your surprise, Scylla likes her coffee black, and strong.

-----

The next morning it is a very groggy looking Scylla that greets you outside her room. The two of you had stayed out to nearly last call the night before. Your little cyborg did much better learning the manerisms of drunks and night owls than she did people by day. Judging by her observations of the locals, you wouldnt be surprised if she could blend in to the nightlife already. Yawning, she asks you "Are we going to have more close combat and sensory training this morning, or will we join the other cyborgs for the morning on the firing range the other handlers planned?"

Not quite sure yourself yet, you ask her back "Why are you out of your room already, and how did you hear about that?"

She shrugs "I wasnty tired, and Elsa kept throwing things at me for making too much noise with the constructor set you gave me. Then at the light when I tried to read. She was quite worried about disappointing Lauro this morning. Something about him expecting her to outperform Rico from the long range tower."

I can't see any harm in another round at the firing range at this point. Scylla did quite well last time as well, and we want to keep encouraging her to be competitive, since it tends to drive her to hone her skills.

Besides which, lets be honest... close combat and sensory awareness are fantastic tools, but she needs to be able to shoot people, it's going to come up in the job, regularly. All the time, really. It is the job.

So yeah, lets head to firing range and involve her. At the very least she'll get to see these other cyborgs competing.

Yeah, go to the range. Don't enter any contests though, Scylla's performance is subpar now.

>>380016
Go to the range. See how much lack of sleep impacts her performance; that'll be good to know. Maybe have afternoon naps and shift the rest of the day's training to the evening if the morning doesn't go well.

I don't know how much we'll actually see the other cyborgs if they're playing around at long range and we're still focused on close to medium range, but eh, Scylla needs to focus on what's important to her chosen methods and not get distracted by unnecessary conformity or competition.

If a convenient moment comes up with the other handlers, mention that you're wondering what the regulations are on letting the cyborgs associate with people outside the organization. Is there a "anyone who knows anything must die" policy in place here, do they not really care as long as in our judgment as a handler there won't be crazy security leaks over it, or something in between? We need to learn the rules here before we make our move to get Scylla a better knife trainer and getting the information informally from another handler would be somewhat more comfortable than our other options.

>See how much lack of sleep impacts her performance; that'll be good to know.

That seems me a tad risky on a full range. I think it would be better to test that on an empty range. Scylla already nearly had an accident her first time on the range.

How about taking her to the range, but not to shoot, but to watch. Give her a little list of tricks to keep awake, like drinking much, or being physically active. Then give her a light duty task like writing a protocol of everyone's hits or counting fired shoots by caliber and person. You will do the same thing. Afterwards you compare.

You smirk "The range I think. You may not have the long range skills to compete with Elsa and Rico, but that doesn't mean you cant see how they do."

Scylla yawns, as her stomach growls "Can we get some breakfast first, none of the others wont be on the range right away either."

Shakeing your head you reply "Come along then, lets eat first."

Scylla isnt ravenous as she eats, though the cyborg does go through two mugs of coffee, much to the shock of the cafeteria workers, as well as Hillshire and Triella, both of whom were already eating when you arrive at the cafeteria "You actually like that stuff?" Triella asks when your cyborg returns with her second cup. Scylla nods, and offers Triella her mug. The older girl takes a tentative sip, making a disgusted "bleh" after the black fluid passes her lips.

Shrugging Scylla accepts her cup back, and returns to her eggs "How did your outing last night go?" Hillshire asks, attempting to start some conversation.

You smile "Well. Scylla isnt ready to be fighting yet, but her observational skills are improving greatly."

Triella frowns "So, you just spent all night watching things."

Nodding again you reply "Its very important to be aware, especially of when a mark may be imitating something as a cover."

"Or when you are being followed as you follow them." Scylla adds, before leaning over, looking at your watch, and adding "Or when its time to go to the shooting range." before downing the rest of her mug and standing, plate cleared, face awake and eager.

Triella grins and imitates her cyborg counterpart, as you and Hillshire shovel your last few bites down and follow suit.

-----

The range is a cacophony of gunshots and noise. Scylla and Henrietta plugging away with their smgs, Trielas K&K G3 adding a lower pitched thrumming to the hiss of the smgs, and whine of Beatrice's pistol. All of it accented by alternating, deafening cracks as one of the girls in the tower above and behind you fire, obliterating a target.

Hillshire and yourself are both a few steps back from your cyborgs, close enough to observe, while Jose and Bernardo both standing just over their cyborgs shoulders, instructing them as they practice. "So, Scylla works best without supervision too then?" Hillshire asks as the cyborg in question handily switches from target to target, weapon set to automatic fire, though each pull of the trigger is a perfect 3 shot burst on a separate target.

You shake your head "No, she is simply comfortable with her weapon and task. If she needs help, or doesnt know something she deeps important, she asks me" you reply.

"Hard to tell I would imagine, she hardly ever talks, and her face isnt exactly expressive." Hillshire replies neatrally.

You shrug "You just need to know what to look for with her. Her face is just barely in a frown, her eyes have a hint of a glint. Shes concentrating, hard."

Hillshire nods "So what exactly are you training her to specialize in? I know that she is taking lessons in stealth and sensory awareness, as well as the specialization in close range weapons your giving her and hand to hand combat. Infiltration and assassination, or do you have something else in mind?"

Before you can answer, one of the snipers bullets strikes one of the abandoned cars off to the far outside of the range. Judging by the fireball the vehicle becomes, she hit the gas tank. and judging by Scyllas startled half-leap and shout, she may have been focusing too much on what was directly down range.

Yes, Infiltration, including extractions, and Assassination/Sabotage are the main directions of her specialization. And as a sideline spotter, perimeter control and pursuit, since they use most of the same skills.

Not sure what to say on the range currently, aside from 'Don't forget your environment and allies when concentrating on a target'.

In general training, I want to advance the stealth training to the grass and wood of the forest outside the Institute. To prepare for that a senses lesson, similar to the one for the city we did last day, is in order.

Otherwise I want to introduce Scylla to lock picking and cat burglary soon. Not necessarily this or next week, but once her shooting is somewhat better for sure. If getting people for armed close combat takes a while, breaking and entering skills might fill the time.

Continue senses, dirty fighting and marksgirl training. Making her familiar with explosive in her senses, smelling and hearing. Smelling various explosives before and after detonation, listening to different types of bombs/explosions.

>>369174
Was this supposede to be Gunslinger rather then Qunslinger?
Also as far as I can tell there is neither wiki page nor questdis thread, so I will create them... as soon as I know the proper quest name

>>382656
In addition to all this there are things we are training her which we should NOT say outloud.
Namely Intelligence (spying on people) & counter-intelligence/internal security (spying on our employers and co-workers specifically)

Also, I think we should talk to the medical staff later on and ask for a comparison of cyborg mental degeneration rates to their conditioning drugs, and what happens to them if they are using lower then recommended dosage of conditioning drugs while having augmentations (remember that each aug increases conditioning drug level by 1 automatically. I want to know why).

>Namely Intelligence (spying on people)
Actually, the Ministry has a whole branch dedicated to this. The spying on people Scylla and ourselves will have to do is more about confirming this is the meeting, which we were told to expect and whose participants we are to disappear or rob.

>including extractions
Items, yes. People, no.

>Assassination/Sabotage
Focused more on the assassination than the sabotage. But combining is acceptable because placing a bomb is placing a bomb regardless of what it is supposed to destroy.

>>382883
>Actually, the Ministry has a whole branch dedicated to this.
Of course they do, what does that have to do with what I said to warrant an "actually"?

yes, its supposed to be Gunslinger Girl. And on the topic of first post derps, I meant to say that it was Jean that brought you in, not Jose. Though I hope the presence of Rico made that fuck-up a bit more obvious, heh

You stifle a sigh, and reply "Yes, I plan for her to be an infiltration, assassination and sabotage. and extraction expert when her training is complete."

Hillshire nods "I imagine we will end up on quite a few missions then, since Triela and I seem to be sent on the most missions where little intelligence is available. And our girls seem to get along well enough on top of that."

Nodding in agreement as you watch Scylla collect herself and go back to shooting, you reply "You find the target, we make it disappear... I imagine our girls could make a strong team, if Trielas strengths compliment Scyllas well."

Grinning with a bit of pride, Hillshire replies "She can trail a target without being seen, then burst through their front door and either take them down or run them to ground quite reliably. Though I do have to reign her in when it comes to targets we need to question on occasion." he pauses to glance at both of your cyborgs as they silently practice, clearly noticing Scylla falling back into tunnel vision at the same time you do. "Since each fratellos first mission is a tandem with a more experienced team, we may be able to test how well the two work together at the end of the month, if you want to."

"Why me?" you ask as you begin to move towards Scylla.

Hillshire shrugs "Triela doesn't get along with Elsa, and I doubt applied explosives would be of much use on the sort of missions I normally get. A cell take-down with the Jose/Henrietta fratello would be a better use of what Bernardo is prepping Beatrice for in my opinion."

You simply nod by way of response, and move next to Scylla as she switches out clips "You need to keep your awareness when firing, Scylla. Just focusing on your gun-sights and whats downrange is a sure way to get yourself injured, or to put an ally in danger."

The girl nods "Sorry, it's just so hard to focus right now. I think I need more coffee."

Chuckling, you shake your head "The more caffeine you put in your system, the harder the crash is Scylla. And its addictive to boot."

As Scylla slams the fresh clip into the receiver, she asks "So, only with breakfast or during late missions then?"

You nod "That is generally when most people drink coffee, so yes. Now back to work Scylla, unless you have any questions, we can talk more at lunch." The little cyborg nods, shoulders her weapon, and goes back to practicing.

-----

After lunch, you take Scylla out to the secondary range, and she, for once, seems to be glad to be separated from Elsa and Rico, as the older cyborgs close victory over Scyllas roommate has them turning everything into a competition. You dont doubt that Lauros only comment to Elsa on the competition was "You were satisfactory. I had expected the more experienced cyborg to win, though I will expect you to win next time."

So, as Scylla wanders about the secondary outdoor range, doing her best to identify wrecks and what was used to detonate them, you ponder what you will work on tomorrow. On top of that, you have Hillshires proposition to consider, and you need to think out how to approach Lorenzo about getting a knife fighting trainer, and the doctors about the specifics of Conditioning. Luckily, Scylla is handily identifying every wreck, pile of rubble and crater as well as what made it, according to the list Bernardo gave you during lunch.

So, after congratulating Scylla once she successfully identifies the last item, you walk with her back to her room in a comfortable silence. Upon arrival, her daily report already done, your cyborg promptly collapses into her bed, asleep in her cloths from the day. With a few hours left before the office closes for the day, you have plenty of time to sign Scylla out for more sensory training in the field, and talk to the director and Doctors should you so choose. It's only a question of what order to approach the separate items on your mental to do list.

Talk first, let our girl get some sleep.

Talk to doctors first

Then director on whether they have (or are willing to bring in) some dedicated specialist teachers for the girls (to be shared by all cyborgs whose handlers show an interest).
Other potentials is not yet dead cyborgs who retired from active missions and the other trainers but it is better to have officially brought in dedicated trainers.

Don't take her out again tonight, she needs her sleep.

>>384506 This.

Sign Scylla out for afternoon(1400-ish) until early night(2300-ish) to go into the forest for tomorrow. Also reserve the urban assault course for weapons training.

Additionally a talk with Hillshire about Triela. I think Triela is mainly Assault focused, but I am not sure. Get correct information about Triela and organize a combined training. For the training lets just take one of Hillshire and Triela's past missions as base and change the places of gurads and objective around a bit. If I didn't miscount today is Sunday, so lets say on coming Thursday or Friday.

Since Scylla went early to bed after that short night, she should be up as early as usual tomorrow. Let's take her on the urban assault course with her guns and silencers. We will teach her sneaking with a weapon and silenced shooting. How to move and carry the gun to avoid extra noise. How load silenced really is in a building. How to react properly to surprise targets with pop-ups, which isn't always shoot it.

Suggestion 2012/02/08(Wed)09:16 No. 385276 ID: 1ec425
File 132872136663.jpg - (65.03KB , 450x696 , watchmen-poster-comedian.jpg )

Are we working from an existing universe here, because, uhh...You know. What the fuck?

Also is it cool if I imagine the Rico chick taking you out as a frame for frame reenactment of the opening scene from the Watchmen movie between Comedian and Ozymandias? Short of her tossing us out the thirteenth floor window, obviously.

>>385276
>Are we working from an existing universe here
Yes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunslinger_Girl
Recommend you start with the first TV series, the 2003 one animated by Madhouse

With Scylla fast asleep, you make your way over to the hospital wing to try to get some answers about the conditioning drugs. The walk is short, but is more than enough for you to get your thoughts in order on how you will phrase your questions and what you will ask once you get there. For the most part, the building is quiet. There is a small red light on over one of the testing rooms, silently requesting privacy, but that is the only closed door you see. None of the other labs, surgical units, or recovery rooms are closed off, though Angelica is patiently sitting in her bed in her room, reading a book. The cyborg looks up and waves to you as you pass on your way to the offices, most of which have their doors open as well. The sound of men and women tapping away at keyboards, or rutting through files is all that breaks the silence of the hallway, save your footsteps as you approach Dr. Bianchi's office.

While technically not the most knowledgeable doctor on the Conditioning process, his role as head doctor, and the primary psychiatrist for the cyborgs makes him the best choice to see if Hillshires argument on teaching the cyborgs has any credence. You knock on the doctors door-frame, and he looks up to ask "James, what a surprise, is something wrong with Scylla?" he asks, clearly surprised by your presence.

You shrug "No, I was just curious about the conditioning process, and the girls mental health and lifespan."

Bianchi chuckles "In short, you need to know more about the cybernization process." The doctor taps a few keys on his keyboard, closing whatever was open, and motions towards the empty seat in the corner of his office. "May as well take a seat, James."

Nodding, you drop into the seat, and ask "I take it you have had this conversation before then?"

Bianchi spins his computer chair around to face you, and replies "Yes, though Lauro hasnt stopped through yet. And the question on the worth of teaching the girls is not as common. I would like to start there, but without the rest of what I'm going to tell you my hypothesis wont make any sense." he pauses to reach behind his back to grab the bottle of water on his desk, and takes a drink. "As I'm sure you know, very little of the cyborgs remains natural. They have sub-dermal armor, as well as thickened skin, artificial livers, enhanced lungs... I could go on for nearly an hour listing what we change in them, what we add, but all you really need to know is that the changes are extensive, and their results. Of course, none of these additions are natural to the human body, so certain drugs are needed to prevent the immune system from attacking what we added."

"So, the primary purpose of the conditioning drugs is to prevent rejection of what you added to the girls to make them cyborgs?" you ask, making sure you understand clearly.

"One of two purposes, yes." the doctor responds "The other main purpose is the mental side of keeping the cyborgs functional. Which means both keeping those memories we removed suppressed, as I'm sure your aware, said memories are traumatic at best, though more realistically, could induce suicide quite easily."

Nodding in understanding, you add "Plus keeping them loyal to both the Agency and their handlers." you pause to choose your words, and continue "Though, I am curios as to why enhancing a cyborgs senses increases their level of conditioning."

"Simply put, without the conditioning drugs injected first, surgical anesthetics are unable to affect the cyborgs. A large dose is the minimum for most invasive surgeries, and something as sensitive as ocular, olfactory or aural enhancement even more so. The level of conditioning is increased as a result of the massive amount of the Conditioning drugs needed to complete such a procedure." Bianchi explains, looking almost bored with the conversation.

"Then, if these drugs are necessary for maintaining the cyborgs, how is it that they can be so harmful to them, and their mental state?" you ask, slightly confused.

Bianchi heaves a sigh "This is where I would generally defer to Dr. Belesario, but I feel that I know enough to explain it to you. The process is highly experimental still, and the different chemicals and drugs to keep their bodies from self-destructing and minds in a sane state do not always interact well. Our most stable line of development for the conditioning drugs has creeping addictive qualities, and all of the different versions of the drug are particularly harsh on the mind."

"Why the mind in particular?" you ask "What about the rest of the body?"

Bianchi shakes his head "Because the most effective method to keep the target memories suppressed, for some reason we have not yet been able to identify, becomes increasingly destructive over time. Added to the addictive qualities of the drug this forms a vicious cycle near the end of a cyborgs life, as they need more and more of the drug to properly function, and the more of it they take..."

"The greater the damage done." you finish, before again asking "And what about of the rest of the cyborgs body?"

Bianchi shrugs "That is unexplored territory mostly. Though, it is commonly accepted that while the mind will be the first and most obvious indicator, other systems may fail."

"How could they fail, and what systems would you expect?" you ask, curiosity piqued.

"Whatever senses were enhanced beyond what is normal would be the most likely to fail. And, depending on how often and how badly the cyborg was damaged during its life, they may lose mobility, or, we may be forced to remove mobility from them, depending on how they break down." Bianchi answers with clinical coldness.

Unsettled, you ask "And, what is your opinion on providing the cyborgs with a traditional education in addition to their training?"

"The way most of us see it, the mind needs exercise just like the body. A man who does nothing to maintain his body falls ill and succumbs to injury more often, and generally lives a shorter life, than the man who maintains his body." Bianchi pauses to breathe, before continuing "So, if the cyborgs are forced to exercise all areas of their mind, the mind will be more healthy, and have more that needs to be damaged before the side-affects of the conditioning drugs become debilitating, or even noticeable. This was impossible to test with animals, but considering that Angelica has only been a cyborg for a few months more than Triela, and is already showing early symptoms, I think its a fairly clear indicator." the doctor chuckles "It was painful before she started going to classes. Angelica was adorable, but air-headed and forgetful when not on missions, and it was getting progressively worse. After a close call on an early breakdown after one of her earlier missions, Marco fell in with Hillshire ant the rest."

You nod in understanding, and, bereft of any further questions, reply "Thank you for your time, Doctor." and rise from your seat to leave.

Bianchi shrugs "Like I said, nearly all of the other handlers have come to me with the same questions. Its become routine for me." he nods by way of a goodbye as he turns his chair around to return to work "Hopefully I wont have to see you or Scylla for quite some time, James."

-----

You manage to catch Director Lorenzo just as he is dropping a final sheet of paper into what is clearly the "out" basket on his desk. Or, that's what he is doing after replying to your knock on his door. "Handler Artioum, how can I help you?" he greets you, gesturing to the seats in front of his desk, which you take one of.

"I had some questions about Scyllas training." you reply, cutting straight to business, as it is clear that Lorenzo does not want to stay any longer than he must.

He glances at his computers screen, before looking to you and asking "After receiving your expense funds for this month, I'm curious as to what you could need."

You chuckle "A sparring partner better than I for Scylla, and someone to train her how to properly use a knife in a fight."

Lorenzo nods "The first will be a bit easier than the second. Feel free to either tap Claes when she isn't helping out with research, or some of the former jarheads that work for our support crew, or Section One if you are feeling more daring for the sparring partners." he chuckles "And I do stress the plural, if you choose the latter of the options, as I doubt anyone short of another cyborg, or truly exceptional skill will be able to hold out for long against one."

Chuckling, and rubbing at one of the many bruises Scylla has given you, you sheepishly reply "I believe that. now, as for the knifework instructor..."

Lorenzo shakes his head "None of the current staff are qualified, as far as I am aware... I take it you have someone in mind?"

You nod "There are three friends of mine that come to mind." is your response.

Lorenzo sighs "Your still a probationary handler, considering how you were recruited. So consider the time between now and when we clear you, which will be after your first mission at the earliest as time to think long and hard about who you want to bring in to this organization." he pauses "No matter what role these references of yours fill here, there is no leaving the SWA, as I am certain Jean and Rico made you aware before you were brought in; and your recommendation will be in much the same situation as you, no matter how things go. So, in addition to prepping a preliminary report on them for me, I would recommend that you contact them, and spend some time talking with them. Discretely gauge how receptive they would be to work here, how they will react to the truth. All of that would need to be done before we can even consider approaching them. that leaves you with just under a month to get Scylla prepped on the basics, and see about your suggestions." Lorenzo glances at a clock "Claes should be just about back to her room from the medical wing by now, so if you want to ask her about helping with Scyllas training, now would be a good time." the man pauses, and moves to power down his computer "Either way, I'm done for the day, James. And I hope the rest of yours is good."

"Thank you, Director, and I hope yours is good as well." You reply, leading the man out of his office.

>so, track down Claes to get Scylla a sparring partner, or try to recruit some support staff for that?
>Start working on contacting possible knifework instructors now, or put it off for later?
>And finally, a second/alternate on tomorrows training is still needed.

also, sorry about the delay on my reply, life happens at the most inconvenient times, haha

>>386274
I'm thinking we should start contacting someone for knifework instruction. The ex-flame seems the most solid choice out of the three to contact first.

I don't think we should bring in our former friends in yet, if ever.
I say tap claes AND some support staff, section 1 and former jarheads. She should get a feel for fighting multiple skilled unaugmented humans and how they differ from another cyborg.

I would like to come back to the doctor at a later date and ask some more things. For example, he mentioned the most effective memory suppressants become increasingly destructive. What if we apply psychological conditioning and slowly transition from the most effect to a somewhat less effective but more stable memory suppression?
Unless they suddenly regain all their memories at once it should be manageable and could significantly increase the effective lifespan of each cyborg. I believe doing some research could easily show that such an approach might be more cost effective in the long term. Not only was the initial surgery expensive but ongoing training and handling costs accrue over the years. And as the cyborg gains experience she becomes more and more useful. Extending the time of usefulness would significantly improve return on investment. Likewise the investment cost psychological conditioning as a supplement to weaker but less deadly drugs should be much cheaper then replacing the cyborg.
Finally, careful monitoring of the psychological condition of the cyborg would catch mental instability early enough as to allow transitioning back to the maximum strength memory suppression drugs. To clarify by mental instability I do not mean the regaining of memories. But undesirable personality changes as a result of not properly handling those memories.

We probably would have to prove ourselves and be accepted on a permanent basis before presenting such an argument to our superiors. But we can already start on the research. check salaries, discuss things further with doctor, etc. Actually I would be interested to know more of the various less effective drugs.

>Based on a manga
Holy shit I didn't know! A bit of search and I found http://www.mangatraders.com/manga/series/348[/spoiler]

>>386274
Based on that description of why the drugs work, it sounds to me like if we could manage to get the girls to accept their former traumatic memories we could drastically increase their operating lifespan. The need to constantly suppress those using more and more drugs is apparently the source of their mind rot; if the memories required less suppression then there would be little need to use drugs for them. Of course, managing that would probably require to spend a great deal of effort and time carefully emotionally twisting them so that they're willing to look past their history and continue to think that staying with their handler is the most important thing.

His summary of the effects of traditional education also back up the conclusion that it's not actually the education method that helps but rather the exercise of the mind in general. If we can do that through training methods which have greater benefits to Scylla's general competence on a per-time basis then we should do so.

>so, track down Claes to get Scylla a sparring partner, or try to recruit some support staff for that?
Definitely start with the support staff. Scylla's primary opponents are going to be fully grown people, and her training should focus on that. Once she's advanced to being able to reliably defeat several prepared adults in melee we can start mixing in Claes.

>Start working on contacting possible knifework instructors now, or put it off for later?
The only one of our mentally selected knifework options that seems reasonable to me is our old girlfriend. We obviously can't bring in someone who would hate what we're doing- and I don't think this agency needs any more amoral bastardly types. Of course, whether we want to drag a lover into this... it can't hurt to give her a call and see what she's been up to, at least. We can gather information without committing to any course of action.

>And finally, a second/alternate on tomorrows training is still needed.
Urban assault training tomorrow morning focusing on balancing noise with objective sounds good. Go over the various things that produce noise- in melee combat as well as when using guns, grenades, etc- and different ways to mitigate those sounds. Silencers and how well they work, the importance of masking noise, how to catch bodies as they fall to manage near-silent takedowns. How to prioritize between guns and melee, using both questions of what weapon is practical at the engagement range and the need for stealth and secrecy. Emphasize the need for fast reaction times and split-second decisions in these matters- Scylla is getting good ambush training and should know that moving first is often far more important than moving perfectly.

Then go for more stealth training in the forest tomorrow afternoon.

Sign Scylla out for training in town again the day after tomorrow- plan on spending all day in the city.

Do we and Scylla have subtle earpieces/speakers yet, so that the two of us can talk easily even when we're not next to each other or aware of each others' locations? If not, make it a priority to get some- should be able to get some military-grade ones that are practically invisible for a few hundred dollars, which is well within our budget at this point.

>knife trainers
Remember that this is a permanent assignment. If whoever we pick decides this is not for them, then the cyborgs will be receiving an impromptu training exercise.

>Therepy
While possible, the risks of both ending up with a suicidal cyborg designed and trained to kill multiple armed assailants loose in the middle of a secret government facility is a Bad Thing, not to mention the enormous monetary loss of a cyborg and their training even if they cause no further damage other than suicide. The best way to propose the idea (or re-propose it most likely) is to focus on one of the cyborgs like Angelica who is already in an advanced state of mental decay, such that it is not immediately vetoed by higher-ups. Additionally, there is still the issue of the drugs required for regular maintenance surgery and any emergencies and modifications.

Might I suggest we consider a different hand-to-hand option? If we're already going to have to ask other people for help in training her I think we may want to give her a non-lethal takedown option suited to confused and mass combats. Something like aikido or (martial) tai chi where she's being provided a set of kata to learn and use, which works well against people attacking her. Understanding that this is how most hand-to-hand practitioners work will give her a lot of insight into how to beat them by figuring out how their style works and breaking its pattern, along with a set of moves that should work well against most people without a formal style.

Totally unrelated, I think that if we're going to keep dragging her around drunks and the low-life side of things we shouldn't put off explaining to her what sex is and why it makes adults incredibly stupid. If we explain that it's a curse that is necessary to keep the species going with a few nice parts to it, and that she should be glad she isn't obsessed with it, that may be exactly as much as she wants and needs to know.

Lastly, it's her lifespan (or what's left of it) that we're talking about when we're discussing the longevity effects of training and the conditioning drugs. She deserves to know why she has trouble remembering anything before coming here (that she is unquestionably much happier not knowing) but that this comes at a price of how long she may live. Also, she should be aware that getting injured in combat means using more of the drug and losing more of her lifespan and mind.
She trusts us right now, even though we're scum of the earth that would be arrested on sight if we ever went back home. Let's try to justify that trust a little bit, eh?

As you walk through the halls of the SWA headquarters, you decide on a few things. First, that you will talk to Claes about helping train Scylla in hand to hand combat, though you think it would be best to start with some of the Section 1 personnel with a more military background, like the Director had suggested. So, as you turn to head for the Cyborg dormitories, you decide on what Scyllas training will be tomorrow, and just before you turn on to the hallway that Triela and Claes' room is on, you decide to make some calls tonight. Unless she has moved, it should be a decent hour of the day for her still.

Without hesitating, you knock on the closed door to the older cyborgs room, and are promptly rewarded with Trielas "Yea?"

"Its Jim, is Claes in, I had a favor to ask of her." you answer through the closed door.

After some rustling and shuffling, a very tired, sore looking Claes opens the door "Yes, Mr. Artioum?" she asks, stepping aside to allow you to enter the book and bear infested room.

You step through the door, and lean against the wall, allowing Claes to drop into the chair next to Triela, who is absentmindedly staring into the eyes of one of the many teddy bears Hillshire had bought for her. "I was wondering if you would be willing to help with Scyllas training on a more regular basis in the future, Claes." you reply, ignoring the slouched over Triela just as she is you.

"And how exactly would I be doing that?" she asks, a bit curious at best.

"Once her training is advanced more, she will need a proper sparring partner. I taught her everything I know, but she needs experience against properly trained fighters. And, once she has surpassed them, she will need a parring partner that can keep up with her physique." You answer bluntly "I can provide any material you need to train yourself." you add, hoping that the enticement of books will be enough to win her over.

She thinks for a while, glancing over to Triela, and making eye contact for the briefest of moments, before she replies "Both training manuals and histories of any martial arts you find me useful self-teaching manuals for."

As you know that you will need the help later on, and have more than enough cash to accommodate the girls demands you promptly reply "Deal. I'll let you know when I find the books you will need."

Triela finally ends her staring contest with the bear, sits up straight, so as to be more on your level, than at eye level with the bear, and interjects "So, no more training sessions out on the urban assault course for the rest of us then?"

You grin "I never said that I wouldn't try to rope the rest of you into more exercises primarily designed to benefit Scylla, its just that I doubt your handlers would appreciate the risks of injury that come with proper sparring matches.".

Triela shrugs "I suppose your right. Hillshire would probably rather I do the homework he gave me, or spend my time on the range anyways." looking just a bit dejected as you turn to leave the room.

-----

The next few hours go by quickly, albeit boringly as you catch Section 1 field agents as they leave the compound, or arrive to work security for the night. A lot of them look at you like your crazy for suggesting they actually fight a cyborg, though more than a few are intrigued by the idea, and, as Lorenzo had hinted, most of the former marines jump at the chance.

In all, about two dozen agents volunteered to help with Scyllas training. A decent number that you will have no trouble rotating out so that none of them get too weary to be of use, or get injured, and provide Scylla with a decent challenge. As you enter your room at the SWA, far too tired to try driving to your apartment, you muse that one thing seems to be a constant no matter which nation you are in, the marines are always the crazy ones, and with half of the volunteers for helping train Scyla being either Lagunari, or San Marco Regiment, that holds true in Italy as well.

You glance over to your phone. Kathleen is gonna bite your head off whether you call now or later, its been nearly a year and a half since you contacted her, and the two of you had parted on good enough terms. Sighing, you pick up the receiver, and dial the country code, area code, and finally Kaths number. When the ringing stops, you hold the phone a bit away from your head, and greet her "Hey Kath, its Jim." and brace yourself.

"Jim, your alive?" she answers, then, a silence grips the room, before she shouts "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! YOU DONT WRITE, YOU DONT CALL! NOT EVEN A DAMN CHRISTMAS CARD!!!"

When the screaming stops, you sheepishly put the receiver back to your ear, and answer "Things got a bit hectic for me, that's all. You sound well enough though. Are you still..."

Having calmed down from her outburst, she answers "Working internal security for the IRA? Yup. Not out of Dublin anymore though. Had to move me after..." she trails off, not wanting to go into detail on the cluster-fuck of a job that had gotten you run off the British Isles more than a little forcefully, and put an abrupt end to your relationship. Though, the slight Irish girl quickly recovers "You still workin for the... what family was it again?"

Mentally, you slam your head against the wall for being dumb enough to call Kathleen on a work line. The woman has no verbal filters "Actually... I'm working for the Italian government right now." your stress the right, knowing she will get the hint that you are calling from work.

The pause is more than enough for you to picture the sheepish grin on the little redheads face, as she scrambles to recover "I, ah, actually, was thinking of taking a break from work for a while... maybe go legit some even." again she pauses as you drop your face into your hands over how shitty her cover-up was. At least she tried. "How'd you manage to go from a mafia fixer to an up and up government worker anyways?"

You chuckle "Well, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"They can do that?" she asks, settling down from her blunder a bit more now.

"Well, none of the agencies you could find on the books, or look up on the net could." you answer, using a gentler form of 'if I told you, I'd have to kill you', or, in this case they will kill you.

"Sounds... nice. I take it you got busted and recruited then?" she answers, clearly a bit worried for you.

"Nice?" you ask, utterly flabbergasted by her reaction to accurately guessing how the SWA bough you in. "And, yea... that's mostly what happened. I was a side-job to keep the local cops happy, not even their primary."

Kath sighs, and answers "Yea, nice. You get benefits, steady pay, and internal politics aren't bloody in the literal sense." she pauses, and continues "Jim, I'm tired of fighting the good fight, at least of doing it like this. Like it or not, I'm in a terrorist organization. And my job is to get close to people so that I can stab them in the back before they stab us. You know how it is for internal sec. I talked to you about it enough when we were together, but..."

Now its your turn to sigh. You know exactly how it is for her. She doesn't fake any relationship, and every time she has to knife a traitor, its friends throat she is slitting, a trusted comrades back she is stabbing. And, being internal security, she has very few, if any friends, as no one knows if they can trust her. "Dont worry about it Kath. And you still probably make more than me."

She sniffles "Like hell I do, ya damn sell-out government man. Its the kickbacks of my job that make me look so damn rich... It'll be a while yet, but I think I'll take a vacation to Italy soon. Where do you work out of, I'll drop by so we can catch up better."

"Kathleen, you know you cant just drop by I already told you what sort of agency I'm working for. You-"

"Jesus Christ, settle down Jim. I just need a city. and you better not lie or I will use my call tracing gear to find you. And dont try saying your on a payphone, I know your too damn stupid to remember to only ever call me on those." she cuts you off, mirth in her voice. You cant help but smile as your memories of Kathleen come flooding back more and more.

"Rome. I have a new cell number, so call me when you're in town, I guess." you answer truthfully.

"It'll be a bit more than a month, I have some things at work I'm juggling right now, and it'll take about that long to close the cases." she answers, before adding "And it must be getting pretty late for you. I'll be in touch, James. she finishes, prompting you to give your own goodbye, before hanging up the phone, knowing it is futile to try to dissuade her from coming to Italy.

At that, you walk over to your bed here at HQ, and promptly fall into it to sleep, exhaustion from the previous late night catching up with you.

-----

Much to your surprise, it isnt your alarm clock, but Scylla that wakes you up in the morning. And, after glancing at your alarm clock, the early morning... just before sunrise. Your pretty sure you know what happened, after going to bed so early, she woke up equally early, and now had snuck into your room to await the days start, already clad in her tan cargo pants and black polo shirt that she prefers.

For a while she patiently waits, not even aware that her opening and closing of your door hadn't been as silent as shed thought. Then, as the shades begin to tint red as sunrise begins, she silently pads over to your box of tech manuals, users manuals, and repair guides for all of the assorted gadgets and modes of transportation you had acquired over the years. Most of it you didn't even have anymore, but you still keep up on how to fix them. After all, you never know when you may need to fix one for work, or something similar enough to what you once owned. Silently, she takes one off the top of the pile, returns to her seat, and begins to read.

Watch her read for a little while. If you fall asleep again, fine, we'll wait for the alarm. If not, and you find yourself wide awake, then quietly greet her (don't startle) and go get ready for the new day!

Wait for her to be distracted and then ATTACK! All in! No holds barred!
Impromptu training! Show her she should've looked for hidden weapons and made sure her "Target" is really asleep.

Remember what manuals she is reading through. Ask questions about them later.

>>389725
No. Tell her if she wants to borrow them, she just needs to ask and you can probably get her copies of her own if she is interested in specific manuals.

Construction is her hobby. We choose to support construction as her hobby, because she has enough interest, motivation and drive in that area to advance on her own. We support her hobby by showing interest in her actions and supply her with tools and materials.
It is supposed to be a counterpoint to the lessons and training where we push her to advance. An activity where she controls the pace, the scope and the direction. As part of that we don't push her, instead we allow her to pull.

>>389719
A surprise attack is a bad idea. We are the one person she is not only supposed to be able to trust, but is conditioned to trust. It is better to not strain that.
At most say Buh!, touch her shoulder or something similar if she seems thoroughly distracted. If she is startled or even attacks, remind her of her task to pay attention to her surroundings.

>>389533
Move silently to watch her read. By the time she notices us, we should be in a position that makes it clear we've been awake for a while. "Good morning, Scylla. Have you found anything in particular that you'd like to build?"

Training for the day is outlined in >>387774. Don't forget to sign Scylla out for another city trip tomorrow- and drop by to schedule a melee session with a couple marines for the day after.

It doesnt take much effort at all to disguise your shifting to watch Scylla as simple tossing and turning in your sleep. Scylla, to her credit, freezes, and fixes her eyes on you for a brief moment. However, she either does not notice that you are awake, or decides that if you had wanted to say something you would have, and returns to her reading. You are about to move to let her know that you are awake and that its time to start the day, when she does something unexpected.

Scylla sighs, and pulls a metal from from her pocket. Looking back and forth between her near perfect replica of what would be the phones frame, if phones had frames, and the picture on the years old owners manuals cover. Putting, she slides the frame back into one of her pockets, and walks back over to your box of manuals.

Waiting until Scylla is thoroughly engrossed in rutting through your box of manuals, assembly instructions and warranty information, you shift in your bed, as silently as you can again. This time, when she moves to return to her chair, she is confronted with you, wide awake, secretly glad that you don’t sleep in the nude, and openly watching her. "I take it you want to build one?" you ask, ignoring the mild shock on your cyborgs face to ask the more important question. Scylla nods, a miniscule blush on her face. "I take it you don’t have what you need to do so?"

She nods again "I think they have what I would need at the Q Branch, but I don’t have any reason to be over there."

You silently ponder your options as you stand from your bed,and walk over to your dresser to get a pair of pants and a shirt before heading to the shower. On one hand, none of the other cyborgs have a cell phone, and when coupled with the fact that you already are unsure about having Scylla take classes like the others, the additional alienation may put her in an awkward situation. However, because you are unsure about her official enrollment status in the handlers school for the cyborgs, and with what you know about how having mental exercises affects their rate of mental decay, introducing her to the eggheads responsible for all of the SWAs non-cyborg R&D and production capacity may not be a bad idea. You even have an excuse, in the form of your 'liberated' military H1. Its a far cry from the luxury and sports cars the other handlers drive, and even though you have made some modifications of your own to it, you know that the techs at Q Branch have been salivating over it since it was shipped here for you. You wouldn't even have to let them touch your car, as it has been just about long enough that a proper tune-up is something the old girl could use. "I'm going to shower and change Scylla, meet me at the cafeteria so that we can eat and get an early start on your training. Have your guns and their silencers ready." you announce, finally realizing that she didn’t react at all to your fumbling about in your boxers for the past few minutes.

-----

When you meet up with Scylla, you find her nibbling on a bagel, and reading one of your manuals "So, they interest you?" you ask her, pouring your own cup of coffee from the pot she has sitting on the table, and spreading some butter on your own bagel.

"Mmm." the little girl replies, taking a sip from the black coffee in her cup as she nods her head.

"Your welcome to read them of course. And if you need any help building something you are interested in, let me know, and I'll see what I can do." you respond warmly as you eat your own light breakfast.

For a while, the tow of you eat in comfortable silence, until Scylla breaks it, asking "What are we going to do today?"

"First, silent and near-silent combat. You need to learn what makes noise, how to minimize those noises,and how to properly prioritize what you learn to ensure that every mission we go on is a success." you answer, pushing your now empty plate away from yourself "Can you tell me what might make noise during a mission?"

Scylla nods "Gunfire, grenades exploding, shell casings hitting the ground, glass breaking, bodies hitting the ground, death sounds."

"Can you tell me which of those can normally be heard over an average amount of ambient noise?" you ask the cyborg as she finishes her coffee, and stands from her seat. Grinning, you stand as well, and as you walk out into the predawn gloom inform her "You will after this morning." as you pull a handful of small, battery operated decibel meters,set to transmit the level of sound around them to a handset still in your pocket.

"What are they?" Scylla asks, fascinated by the little gadgets to the point of taking one from your hand to observe it more closely.

"Radio operated decibel meters. I will have some scattered about the urban assault course. You will be on expected to keep the noise you make down to an acceptable level. As you improve, I will expect you to make the times you have been putting up while remaining under an acceptable noise level." you answer her matter-of-factly.

"Will I be allowed to use physical take-downs?" Scylla asks as you near the course, barely illuminated by the few spotlights you flicked on before heading out this morning.

You shake your head "Not until I have time to walk you through near-silent take-downs during our training tomorrow." Nodding as you approach the course start, Scylla glances back and forth between her hip-holstered M1911 and the case she is carrying her PP-2000 in. "We will start with the 1911, attach the silencer while I explain things to you a bit better."

-----

It is late morning by the time your eerily silent training session is interrupted. Scylla is moving through the course at a quick jog now, and can seamlessly switch between her two weapons without making too much noise. she is still above your average ambient decibel levels, but not by much. "Oh, I wasnt expecting to find anyone out on the course this early Jim." Jose greets you, Henrietta following just behind him.

You shrug "After an early night, Scylla and I thought it would be best to have an early morning." you answer.

"Is Scylla non the course right now?" Henrietta asks, as her eyes go up to the display now showing her performance on the last run through it. Her accuracy and lethality are approaching perfect, both percentages between 85 and 95%, which is expected of a cyborg at the shooting range, though lower marks are expected on the assault course. Her time is, of course, far longer than any handler would find acceptable. The important number for this exercise, is down to 44dB, down from 52dB on her last run, a marked improvement.

"Good job Scylla, down 8 from your last run." you congratulate your cyborg as she comes trotting back from the end of the course, not even sweating form her exertion. Jose raises an eyebrow at the screen, as Scylla and Henrietta lock eyes for a brief moment. Scylla tenses, and her posture goes from relaxed and happy to what can only be described as determined to prove herself, though to Jose and Henrietta it likely looks like she is simply taking her place at your side, mirroring the other fratello.

"If we're interrupting your training, Henrietta and I can go to the range and come back here later James." Jose offers in a warm, generous voice.

Henrietta gets a paintball gun and has to find and tag Scylla. Scylla gets to retrieve an item from a building. Henrietta is not allowed to enter the building. Of course, the building must have several exits and stuff.

As for the car, let the techs tune it somewhat (provided you approve of the changes), but have them explaining everything they do to Scylla. We also want her to know how to start a car without keys, how to break it quick and inconspicuous, where to place demo charges, and how to repair the most common problems.

I think this is a perfect chance for Scylla to practice following someone. Give Henrietta some simple objectives, and a paintball gun. Scylla's task is to follow her, and observe her without being seen, while Henrietta on the other hand is trying to catch her and shoot her, lose her, or keep her far enough away that she won't be able to see what she's doing.

Scylla wins if she can successfully report on Henrietta's movements and goals. Training in following someone who is on guard and doesn't want to be followed will have to be useful.

>>392852
"Oh, don't feel you have to- opportunities for training with reactive, intelligent opposition aren't to be missed. Would you mind helping me out a bit as long as you're here?"

I agree with this, at least in principle- Henrietta should do what she's good at, which is straight-up assault, while Scylla does what she's good at, which is being a deadly sneaky git. Forcing Henrietta into search and destroy against Scylla is just asking for her to get frustrated and angry.

So have Henrietta run through a fairly standard assault course and have her want to avoid/shoot Scylla as a side objective. Scylla's objective is to tail Henrietta, to complete an objective opposed to hers, to plant something on her, or something like that- change it up randomly each round without telling Henrietta. Scylla's rules of engagement can change every round, too, including how she balances being detected against accomplishing her objective.

The competitive exercises suggested are good. We should do them. But I don't think going competitive each and every time is a good idea. Some cooperative work would be useful, too.

As an additional cooperative scenario, the building has been taken over by the enemy. There is a room with documents we need to have. If the guards notice the attack they will destroy the documents.
Scylla is tasked with finding the room and the documents. Then Henrietta is to make an assault to cover Scylla overwhelming the room guards and give Scylla a safe and fast extraction path.

>>393001
That is a good suggestion, but we lack the guards. Or should the handlers act as guards?

>>393009
The course already has targets. There should already be rooms set up with multiple targets. Just place one or two of the decibel meters in a such a room to simulate the document room. Place the rest of the decibel meters around the course to simulate other listeners. Maybe a little radio for the Handlers to simulate talk.

>>393016
That's... that might actually work. We should remember these ideas for when other cyborgs might join us, but even now it's viable, if we have the resources (like, for this scenario, several radios).

>>393040
Maybe we could call over some of the marine volunteers we talked to earlier.

"Actually..." you reply, walking over to the locker you found the paintball guns in last time and retrieving them. "I think we could easily make this a joint training exercise. Most opposition is more reactive than a paper target after all."

Jose raises an eyebrow "You want Scylla to run the course against Henrietta? Using the paintball guns some Section One office workers probably thought no one would find here?"

You shrug, finally understanding where the guns you used the last time you matched Scylla against other cyborgs came from "She has been training for stealth and moving silently all morning. I think both girls could learn from this."

Jose looks to Henrietta and Scylla, each at their respective handlers side now, the chestnut haired cyborg doing a much worse job of hiding the fact that she is sizing up the other than your red haired cyborg, and replies "So long as Henrietta isn't standing guard every run... I suppose so."

You nod, and indicate a path through the course "For starts, lets say that Scylla has to stop Henrietta before she gets through half of this course. If you or I catch her on the cameras on the course, or she sets off any decibel meters within say, 15 feet of Henriettas course, she fails."

Jose nods "Sounds good enough to me. I would like to move on to actual firearms and cooperative runs eventually however. An imitation can only teach you so much." As the girls slowly move to collect their weapons, and move to their starting points, Jose adds "And the animosity between our girls cant be good. Hopefully having them work together instead of against each other will iron that out before it becomes an... issue." after they set off down the course.

"Good teamwork only comes with respect and trust. If they don't know what each other can do how can they either respect or trust each other's ability?
"I agree we shouldn't allow rivalry to build up to disrespect, distrust or animosity though."

>>395090
>"Good teamwork only comes with respect and trust. If they don't know what each other can do how can they either respect or trust each other's ability?
If we are going with that, they should make one run each with the other's specialty. Henrietta a sneaking run and Scylla an assault run. If they haven't tried, it is hard to appreciate the skill in someone else.

The cooperative run in >>393001 can be done with real weapons after they'd done it a few times with paint guns and there aren't any friendly fire incidents with the paint guns.

We can also suggest us new Handlers get together and organize a dry run mission with some helpers. Get some military training gear, like MILES, and equip the girls and a selection of Section 1 agents and Handlers with them to run a scenario.

Hmm, it's true that the idea behind this was to exploit their rivalry to get them to work hard at training, but maybe he's right, if they are already feeling animosity towards each other, we shouldn't be encouraging that.

I don't think we are going to overcome this during training though. I think our best bet is after the days training is done, to have Jose and Henrietta do some leisure activity with you and Scylla.

We'll schedule some co-operative training too, but for now I think them interacting during downtime might be better. Henrietta seems to need that kind of thing.