Chapter 6-169 - Fitting in a Hag Somehow... (1/2)

“You’re Private Samantha Blakhamar?” he demanded, grimacing slightly. He also hated special cases who couldn’t use decent weapons, and this group had three of them!

“Sir, reporting as ordered, sir!” she replied blithely, clearly not afraid of him in the slightest.

“Sergeant Esther!” The tall and statuesque blonde, actually wearing a chestplate and greaves over her uniform, stepped up. “You’ve got the special cases here, while I work with the others on the rest of them.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” she replied calmly, also clearly unimpressed by the man who had one more stripe than she did. Grumbling, he began to split the rest of the girls up and send them over to the tables to be issued their firearms.

The Valkyrie looked them over calmly, her blue eyes lingering on two Hagchildren, of all things, and feeling a faint animosity rising inside her as she thought about their ancestry. The instant amusement that rose in the blonde’s eyes showed she had noticed, and Sergeant Esther stuffed it back down professionally.

“Amazon. Private Nihala?” she asked the Hispanic beauty there, who almost sighed in relief. The rivalry between Valkyrie and Amazon existed, but it was largely friendly, as they had different duties and drives to fulfill.

Nihala confirmed her identity crisply, back on solid ground. Sergeant Esther went on, “We have Amazon bows built to your strength, let me walk you over there. What about the two of you? I’m afraid I have no knowledge of the preferences of Hagchildren.”

“Sergeant, I also use a bow for ranged combat. I use the spear for closer work, sir,” Lily responded calmly.

The Valkyrie’s eyes lit up. All Valkyrie were spear-users. “Excellent. I look forward to sparring with you. And you, Private Sama?”

“Sir, ranged combat, crossbow. Melee weapon, Sword.”

“Ah. The assessment we have rates you highly proficient in both-?”

“Sir, I taught Lily her spear and open hand techniques. In terms of proficiency, I probably rate around the best in both crossbow and sword in the country, if not the world.”

Sergeant Esther raised an eyebrow at that calm claim, and even Nihala couldn’t help but look over in astonishment. “Those are some proud words, Private,” she noted. “Are you sure you don’t want to take them back?”

The witch-eye moved very little, but it was like the snap of a steel door clamping down, and Sergeant Esther blinked despite herself as some very, very clear danger signals went off. Those were not the eyes of an arrogant poser; they were eyes of someone who had killed things, very dangerous things, and simply were not impressed by her in the slightest.

This new recruit was incredibly dangerous. All her instincts were screaming at her to step carefully, and as someone who’d had to vet a lot of annoyed and talented Powered having to go through this training, she listened to those instincts in order not to piss people off and cause accidents to happen.

Powered were notoriously high-strung and temperamental, especially when first introduced to a foreign disciplined setting after they’d had a standard childhood where they’d been gushed over, pampered, and endlessly praised. All of the enlisted and officers for the Special Division were also Powered, most of them chi-users or Warlocks, and able to deal with temper tantrums with brutal discipline if necessary.

This woman wasn’t a magic-slinger or chi-user. This young woman was an experienced killer, not someone posing at the trade.

“You’ve had a lot of real-world combat experience, Private Sama?” Sergeant Esther asked curiously.

The response was almost frightening, as the recruit grinned widely, showing four pairs of canine teeth. “Not nearly enough, Sergeant, not nearly enough.”

The answer was so genuine the Valkyrie even forgave the lapse in protocol. “We still have to assess you properly, Private,” she said firmly, despite growing misgivings about what she was dealing with.

“Sir, I understand. Just do your job, and I’ll get myself assessed, sir.”

“Do you need to pick out a crossbow, Private?” Sergeant Esther asked.

“Sir, I have my Crossbow and Sword with me at all times,” Private Sama informed her politely.

She’d already demonstrated she was wearing a Masspack that could fit a full carry-pack inside it. Sergeant Esther eyed it carefully. “Does that really weigh two hundred pounds, Private?” she asked.

Sama worked her shoulders, dropped it free, and the Valkyrie narrowed her eyes at how it fell and hung in her gasp, how the sinewed arms lifted it up and held it out to her.

She reached out for the straps, bracing herself... and half-cursed as her arm fell despite itself, dragging the Masspack to the ground before she could stop it.

Visibly tensing, the muscles in her arms rolling under the pale skin, she lifted it up and slowly flexed once.

It was closer to three hundred pounds...

She handed it back silently, and said no more, getting a grip on this recruit’s character. She wouldn’t say anything she couldn’t back up, that was obvious.

“Well, come with me and draw bows and ammunition, and we’ll test out your range and accuracy...”