Gunslinger Girls - Paths Intertwined

[Kasawa Lanford]

Ryoshine's eyes narrowed; he had noticed her sudden hesitation and knew that she had some-how remembered or perhaps recalled something. Hmm... he thought to himself and folded his arms. "Stop..." he said and lowered his head. "Eject the clip, and clear the chamber. Then recover your target paper, tally up the score, and tell me what the score is." He said

In the back of his mind, he made a mental note to have the Dr. Bianche talk to Giorgia.

[Director of Music]

She nodded, quickly and silently doing as she was told.  She handed him the piece of paper with the tally makrs.

[Kasawa Lanford]

He nodded. "Not bad... not bad at all.."

"But not good enough to be in the field," Hillshire remarked.

Ryoshine sighed. "In your eyes perhaps, but back in the military this would be enough."

"Yes but this isn't the military," Hillshire said, putting emphysis on the isn't part. "You train her to be effective" he said and gestured to Triela that they were leaving.

As they left, Ryoshine couldn't help but shake his head. He has his ways, I have my own... just wish he would understand.

"Hand me the gun please," he said to Giorgia without looking.

[Director of Music]

"Y-yes sir." She said as she handed him the gun.  She looked to see Hillshire and Triela's retreating figures.

I wonder why he hates me? She thought vaguely.

[Kasawa Lanford]

Accepting the gun, he laid it out on the bench and disassembled it, he then reassembled it and repeated the process three times. "Watch," he said and again repeated what he had done.

After he reassembled the gun a fourth time he handed it off to Giorgia. "Do it, disassemble, and then reassemble the gun." he said and rested his back against the bench, both hands in his lap, clasped together.

[Director of Music]

She took the gun back and nodded.  As soon as she held the gun, it was like another memory kicked in, her hands rapidly dissembling it, then reassembling it.  It seemed there was no thought that was going through her mind, just her hand movements that quickly, and skillfully did what they were told automatically.

This seems familiar... She mused.

She reassembled the gun a 4th time and looked up at him.

[Kasawa Lanford]

Ryoshine nodded, he was impressed. There was something 'odd' about how quick she had done the job, "Not bad... not bad at all..." he said and looked at his watch, it was already ten in the morning, my how time flys. It was around that time that Henrietta came into the armory, she walked past the two of them and placed her 9mm inside a case, placing the guns clip to the side.

When Henrietta left, Ryoshine nodded. "How about I show you to your dorm room," he said and picked up the gun and placed it in a case to his right, he closed it shut, locking it in the process. He then gestured to the door, "Let's go."

[Director of Music]

"Okay." She murmured softly, following his lead. 

Soon, they were in a simple hallway, with a few twists and turns.  They finally stopped at a door.

[Kasawa Lanford]

Gripping the knob, Ryoshine pushed open the door.

Inside the room was a bunk bed, with the top reserved for another incoming. "You'll be sleeping on the bottom bunk," he said and gestured to a dresser. "Your clothing is in there, make sure to get dressed each morning for breakfast, and don't wear your casual cloth's at night ok?" he said, reminding her that she should wear pajamas instead. "If you need anything just let me know, sadly I have things I must do right now. I think Henrietta and Triela might be returning soon, so if you need someone to talk to.. well.. I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige," he said and walked back toward the door. "Oh, there is a schedule on the wall with time's listed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

With that aside, he left Giorgia's room and made his way down to the end of the hallway. "The first day is complete... but this is one of many... I just hope the next few days are just as easy going... bah... how pathetic of me to think each day would be easy.." he said, sighing soon after. 

[Director of Music]

Giorgia now stood alone as he left.  She gazed around the room silently.  Finally, she sat down on her bunk.  She closed her eyes and then...the rest of the memory...

"GIORGIA!! SHUT THE DOOR, DON'T OP-..."

Bam. Bam. Bam. 3 precise shots.

DADDY! She screamed.  Her daddy.  The door blasted open. Hooded figures, a blow to the head.  The last thing she saw was her daddy, still in his uniform...his last act had been to shield her...

She blinked open quickly and realized there were tears on her face.  She quickly wiped them away.  She stared at the view, and saw her own reflection.  She looked scared, frightened.  One thought crossed her mind.

I must not show any emotion.

[Kasawa Lanford]

Meanwhile,. Ryoshine had headed to his office.

He opened the door walked in, noting that more boxes had arrived. He began to unpack them and started setting up his office. It took him several minute's but he was finally through, he had set up his computer near the window, with a view of a garden outside currently being tended to by one of the child cyborgs.

"Despite what this agency stands for, this place is actually quite pleasant." He said to himself as he took a seat in his chair and booted up the computer. When the login screen appeared he entered in his username and password and logged into the Agency's network.

He brought up Giorgia's profile, which was expectectly bare since she had just started. "Let's see... I think tomorrow I'll start her on long range fire... while we'll mostly work alone.. it wouldn't hurt to have her learn how to use a sniper rifle.." Ryoshine said to himself.

****

Henrietta yawned as she stared at the clock. "Tired?" Rico asked from her bunk, Henrietta nodded. "Yes, even though its still early."

"Why not go and see how Giorgia is doing? She's new and I haven't heard of anyone bunking with her, she could be lonely." Rico said. Henrietta nodded, "I think I will," she said and left the room.

Rico shook her head and went back to sleep.

[Director of Music]

Giorgia stood up and paced around the room.  All of her things were already there, not that she had a lot of possesions.   She spotted her jacket on the hanger.  She walked towards it and put a hand on the fabric.  She murmured something softly to herself, but then spotted something sticking out of the inside pocket of the jacket.  She hesitated for a moment, then put her hand inside the jacket. 

It was a photo.  She eyed the picture sadly.  She had taken  the picture that night.  That dinner.



It was her daddy.  All of a sudden there was a knock at the door, she had just hastily put the photo up when Henrietta walked in.

Henrietta had seen Giorgia hastily put something up.  "Hey Giorgia, whatcha up to?"

Don't give anything away

She smiled.  "Oh, hello Henrietta.  Nothing at all, really."

Henrietta replied, "I don't want to be nosy, but were you looking at something earlier?"

Giorgia glanced at the older girl.  "Er...no,"  She smiled, "I barely have enough things as is..."

Henrietta smiled, but she was still a little cautious.  "Well, I  just wanted to check up on you..."

Giorgia gave Henrietta a nod.  "Thank you."

[Kasawa Lanford]

The armory was quiet; Ryoshine had gone to practice his marksmanship skills alone. He took a 9mm out of the case and loaded a clip, he took aim at the far target and fired six rounds; all of which found their mark dead center.

Ejecting the clip, which clattered to the ground, he quickly took another from his back pocket and slapped it into the gun and fired off six more rounds, these ones aimed at the head of the target.

When he was done he ejected the spent clip and placed the gun on the table and walked over to the paper target. He looked it over and nodded, "seems I haven't lost my touch..." he said to himself as he tore the target off the rack and brought it with him to the table, he took a marker and circled all the holes he had made. He was impressed with himself, even though he'd been out of the military for some time, it still didn't harm his marksmanship skills.

He was about to go again when Hillshire appeared in the doorway. "Got a moment?" He asked. Ryoshine nodded, but didn't turn to him. "I heard you trained briefly with the American's in disabling bombs right?'

"That's right," Ryoshine said as he disassembled the gun.

"Well then we have a mission... there's a bomb at a theater and for some reason we've been called in..." Hillshire said.

Ryoshine blinked. "Why not call in the bomb squad?" he asked.

"Because they're busy with other bombs that have been reported in the surrounding areas, and we are actually the closest believe it or not. It’s a two hour drive from here to there, and according to the security guard who 'found' it, the clock listed that it would go off in four hours." Hillshire said and walked into the room. "So.... the director wants you to disarm it."

He nodded, "very well, let me get Giorgia and I'll meet you and Triela at the van. I'm driving," Ryoshine said with a smile on his face. Hillshire nodded, "We'll also be bringing Rico and Henrietta along," Hillshire said, "Ok, let Giorgia know for me please, I have to grab my equipment from the office," Hillshire nodded and left, Ryoshine reassembled the gun and placed it back in its original case, locking it and then placing the case in a vault.

Walking over to another case on the wall, he pulled out a M16D, it was modified from the American M16, this one had a laser sight and it's magazine held two times more ammo, its rate of fire was slower, but it was stable enough to where the accuracy was better the original M16. He placed the rifle in a case and headed out to the van, placing the case under the driver’s seat.

He went up to his office and retrieved his kit, he opened it to make sure everything was there. "Good.. good... nothing was damaged in transit," he said and carried the case back out to the van. He found that no one had arrived yet, so he placed the case in between the driver and passenger seats and leaned up against the driver's side door; tapping his foot in the process. This is crazy, I know I shouldn't bring Giorgia just yet, but this should be a milk run considering law enforcement already secured the building, she'll be there as an observant and learn from the others.. he said to himself and continued to wait.

[Director of Music]

Hillshire hurried into Giorgia's room

"Henrietta! Giorgia!  Both of you girls hurry on down to the front.  Oh, you'll need this."  He threw both girls an equipment bag.  He nodded towards Henrietta.  "We're disarming a bomb.  At the moment, we may not need guns, but if we do, it's all in that bag.  Giorgia, Ryoshine is getting his equipment bag.  You two meet us down in front.  5 minutes.  Henrietta, help Giorgia."

Henrietta nodded and motioned for Giorgia to follow.  The girls hurried after Hillshire, when Hillshire stopped abruptly.  "Gioriga, just so you know, you'll be watching this one.  You won't need to take action unless absolutely necessary."

"Yes sir" Giorgia replied.  Hillshire nodded and they hurried out to where Ryoshine was waiting.

"Here's your charge Ryoshine."  He nodded towards Giorgia.  "Guisuppe is gathering up the others."

[Kasawa Lanford]

"Alright," Ryoshine said and opened the drivers side door and got in. He turned the van on and turned up the AC, as it was rather warm outside right now.

They didn't have to wait long, Triela and Rico soon arrived and got into the van. Once Giorgia and Hillshire got in, he drove through the gate.

Along the way Henrietta removed the 9mm from her bag and checked it. Rico and Triela followed up with their own weapons, "keep them hidden..." Hillshire said, the three girls nodded and placed their guns back in the equipment bag.

[Director of Music]

Giorgia sat quietly in the back seat watching the other girls go through the procedures.  Hillshire was going through the plan, while Ryoshine was driving and listening.  The girls nodded calmly.  Giorgia noticed wryly that all trace of human emotion in their face was gone too.

[Kasawa Lanford]

The two-hour drive had turned into three when the Van ran into heavy traffic, this angered Ryoshine as he knew how delicate a mission this was. Finally finding an off-ramp, he used several back streets he knew of to get to the theater; once there he saw just how much in terms of law enforcement had been called in - two squad cars.

"You've gotta be joking me... there's a bomb inside and they only send two cars?" Ryoshine said, angered. He parked the Van toward the front where an officer walked up to his driver side, "Hello Sir, I take it you’re the one who is here to disarm the bomb?" he asked.

"We are, but tell me why there are only two squad cars first.." Ryoshine said after stepping out of the van and retrieving both his bomb disarming kit and his rifle case. "There's been several scare's throughout the city, most pointed at the local schools so this is all the department could spare." The officer said, waving his hand to the two cars parked by a water fountain. This fountain had a statue in the center, with water gushing out of four small 'holes' on the head. After listening to the cop's excuse's he turned to Giorgia and said, "Stay near Henrietta," he didn't want her to be near him in the event the bomb exploded; while he doubted that would happen he had no choice but to assume the worst.

He nodded. "Uh huh... well at least this is one bomb they won't have to worry about, just keep the place secure and watch for any unexpected visitors." Ryoshine said and walked toward the set of four double doors. He stopped just short of the middle one before turning toward Hillshire and Guisuppe. "This is a delicate operation here, so peace and quiet is a must." he said, the two handlers nodded and relayed the same message to their charges.

***

Some distance from the theater, in a bell tower. A man hefted a set of binoculars and stared down the len's. "Sooo.... they have arrived..." the man said, a grin stretched across his face. "Don't do anything just yet, there's still forty minutes left on the bomb, let's wait until he had ten minutes left."

"You sure he won't disarm it before then?" An older woman in her thirties said, concerned. "Nah... not this type... he'll quickly discover why the Italian Police asked for the Agency to send him to do it..." The man let out a small, evil laugh before putting the binoculars down. "Once he hits the ten minute mark, we'll attack..."

[Director of Music]

Giuseppe and Hillshire stood with their backs facing Ryoshine.  Henrietta, Triela, and Rico were stationed near by in case anything did happen.  Giorgia stood with Henrietta.  Her brown hair swaying in the wind.  Her eyes intent on her handler.

Hillshire stood looking at his watch.  "You've got 30 minutes, Ryoshine."

[Kasawa Lanford]

"DIsarming a bomb can't be rushed," Ryoshine said as he walked toward the concession stand, it didn't take long to locate the bomb as it was behind the stands. He looked it over and let out a low whistle. "Nice... we aren't dealing with armatures that’s for sure.." he said to himself as he laid his kit down and opened it up.

He began his work and started by first locating the easy thing - wires. Looking over the bomb he found no wire's of any sort that could be cut, everything was shielded and encased inside the device. "No wires.... hmmm..." he said and went to plan B.

Taking his screw driver, he began to pop some screws off, when the last of four of the screws on a plate of metal had been removed, the metal plate fell to the ground with a soft 'clang' when he looked inside he was, once again, disappointed. "Damn it..." he said when he noticed that all the wires were of the same color.

What should've taken five minutes, went on for the next nineteen minutes instead. He took a cloth and wiped the sweat from his forehead, he was now dealing with a digital display that displayed the amount of time remaining. "Very sophisticated.." he said.

"How so?" Hillshire said from beyond the stands. "This bomb is a mixture of American, Italian and German technology... it's got American ingenuity, Italian toughness.. and most likely German explosives.." he said, "So your saying you can't disarm it?" Hillshire asked, impatient. "I never said that, I'm saying that whomever planted this bomb thinks that no one can disarm it... but I can..." Ryoshine said as he popped open another part of the bomb's casing.

This time a big grin spread across his face - he had now located the detonating cord for the explosives, he just needed to cut them and they could head home. He took his wire cutters and began to cut the ten wires.

***

Outside the building; the four cops that had been guarding it were no where in sight, instead several blackened figures stuck to the alley ways and made their way toward the large building.

The lead of the group looked at his watch. "Two minutes..." he said.

[Director of Music]

Giorgia watched Ryoshine intently.  All of a sudden, she felt there was a change in the air.  She looked at the other girls, and at Giuseppe and Hillshire.  None of them seemed to notice.  She tugged on Henrietta's sleeve.  But she just whispered, "Not now, Giorgia." 

She frowned.  Something was wrong.  She took a step foward to tell Ryoshine.  Hillshire quickly interfered.
"Get back to where you were Giorgia."  She nodded numbly.