“Thanks for the help, Ranger. I was feeling pretty put-out-to-dry until I met you. Also, if you ever need a hand with something or someone to watch your back, give me a call. I really appreciate all of this help.”

"Don't worry about it, I am more than willing to teach people how to operate a gun. And in your circumstances, willing to hunt down the firepower."

“So how do we handle the assault rifle versus the pistols. Back to stances, I'm assuming?”

Raising the weapon he responded, "Yeah, back to stances. Only at the moment I only have one assault rifle on the range, but while you shoot it I'll go retrieve the others." He set held the stock against his right pectoral and with both eyes open looked through the scope. "This is a Sig 556. It is the American variant of the 550 series. This one in particular has a telescopic stock, scope, flashlight, and a forward grip. It is an assault rifle and as such can be fired in both semi and full automatic. We'll start with it on automatic." as he mentioned each part he motioned to it with his left hand, and when finished he took hold of the forward grip.

"The grip will make this gun a bit different from other rifles in how it is held, but it will be easier to shoot accurately. Just letting you know that this will be a little different from the ones I have in a locker. Now, many people are taught to hold the gun against their shoulder tightly. This is not a bad practice but it is not the most efficient. What you need to do is hold the stock tight against your pectoral muscle so you can keep your body facing square forward. Also this way if you are walking around and you don't have the gun raised, you can look at a target and raise the gun up to your eye and have the shot lined up instead of having to raise it and then line up a shot from your new body position. Both elbows will be bent and since there is a forward grip your left elbow will stick out more than it would otherwise on a rifle."

The Ranger stood with the gun in position ready to fire. "So study this stance 'cause in a second I'm gonna hand the gun to you. Oh! and before I forget, when using a scope for a medium range weapon like this keep both eyes open. The eye lined up with the scope will see downrange in a very exact spot while the other eye can see everything else happening in the area."

Having said this he lowered the gun, checked to insure the safety was on and then handed it to Nexus. He then grabbed a fully loaded mag out of the case and set it on the counter in front of Nexus. "When you think you are ready, there are the rounds, it is a 30 round magazine. And yes, there are larger magazines for it. Each bullet is smaller than the ones you fired from the pistols but moves at a much greater velocity."

((OOC: There is a picture of the Sig a few posts up. Just a reminder.))

Jake watched intently as the man demonstrated the firing technique involved in firing the Sig 556. It seemed simple enough, and when Ranger finally handed him the weapon, he managed to replicate it easily. Raising the weapon, he lined the weapon up with the target and imagined himself pulling the trigger.

“Ranger... I'm not sure if its a problem or not...” Jake started hesitantly, putting down the rifle and slipping off the mirrored shades and setting them on the counter. His eyes were the blank smoky-white of a cataracts victim. “I can't actually use a sight at all. If it wasn't for my mutation, I wouldn't be able to see at all. Right now, I can make things out to around a hundred yards, but that's it.”

Jake shrugged. He couldn't exactly change who he was, but it was somewhat irksome that the power that had made him who he was might limit his ability to tackle the problem before him. There were, however, perks.

“My power does give me some advantages though. I can see in light or dark just fine. Doesn't make any difference at all. I can also see all around me without moving my head at all. I can see you and that target just fine and at the same time. Well, the structure of the target at least. I get contours, but not detail, so I've just been shooting to hit the same spot on the target that you were shooting at. That won't be a problem with Meld or anyone else though. I can tell people apart perfectly as far as I can see. I never forget a face.” Jake said with a chuckle. It wasn't exactly true, but it was a far simpler to explain then the actual Web of Fragments. “I'm pretty sure your supposed to use weapons like this at longer ranges then that,” he stated, patting the long arm, “but your the expert, I just figured I would mention it.”

Turning back to the weapon, he picked it up and took up the stance again. Calmly, he slid his hand over the various control surfaces. There was the safety, he could feel the calmness of its presence. There was a mode controller, which edged from a general feeling of safety to overwhelming power. That must be fully automatic then, he thought to himself as he flipped through the different modes, leaving it on the most powerful setting. I better make sure before I try it out.[/i]

“This is automatic, right?” He inquired, turning slightly so that Ranger could look at the side of the empty weapon.

The Ranger was stunned. This person, whom he was staring into the blind, white eyes of, was shooting better on his first time than many who could see. Although, he had been around another blind mutant who had a power that allowed him to see, perhaps Nexus' 'sight' was something similar.

"A...Alright. Well, as long as you can tell people apart, since your shooting for a first time is first rate. That gun is good for medium to long range, but at the moment the scope is set for around two-hundred to three-hundred feet. Without the scope I would have it sighted in to be accurate from zero to one-hundred feet. It's maximum effective range is about 400. Also, the skills you'll learn from shooting assault rifles will carry over to submachine guns."

The Ranger watched Nexus retake his firing stance, and when asked about the auto matic he replied, "Yeah, that is automatic. But I suggest using the mag I put on your counter for semi-automatic firing first, just to get used to the kick. " The reaching down he grabbed up a couple other mags. "After you use that one, fire these in full auto." setting them on the counter he made his way to the locker room.

"I'll be back in a minute, I'm gonna grab my other guns."

Jake watched as Ranger moved off towards the locker room at the other end of the range. So far, everything was going splendidly. Already, he had learned a lot about using a firearm, a weakness in his opponent, and gained access to the weaponry he hoped would even the field between him and his mechanistic opponent. Reaching down, he picked up one of the Sig magazines and tested its weight before slotting it into the rifle and cocking the first round.

Letting out a slow breath, he flipped down the mode shifter a level and raised the weapon to his shoulder just as he had been instructed. Sighting the weapon as best as he could, a challenge given its length, he slowly depressed the trigger. The blast from the Sig 556 was sharper and more driven then that of the massive revolver he had used before, and the weapon jarred back hard into his arm. The round sailed low, probably his worst shot of the night.

Sighing, Jake raised the weapon again. Casually, he tried to imagine what it would be like taking aim at someone. A real person. He tried to imagine lining up the iron sights of the weapon with that singular glowing core that each person carried with him. Could a soul be harmed by bullets?[/i] He didn't like to think about it. In his travels, he had only seen a person die once. It was a chance thing, an elderly man suffering a heart attack on a city street in the Midwest. He had watched the connectivity of that person simply...unravel. It had been a horrifying thing to experience. How would this whole thing play out, he wondered? Would it be Meld unraveling before him when next they met? He didn't want to kill her. He never did. He wouldn't let himself become like her.

Jake watched as the heavy strands of determination that surrounded him roiled with power. He wasn't going to be shaken. If he had to take on the karma of her death, he would do so gladly if it protected the lives of others. Grimacing, he focused and raised the weapon. The thin, laser-straight line of intention flowed through him towards the target. He fired steadily, eating through the magazine in the span of less then a minute, each shot better then the last. By the point the magazine ran dry, the center of the target was in tatters, perforated by enough bullets that it was beginning to fall apart.

Jake ejected the mag smoothly and set it one the counter and took up the next. He was starting to get a sense of the connectivity within the weapon. Ranger had used this gun many times in the past, and Jake was starting to find he could tap into the linkages that drove the man's steady and rhythmic use of the weapon. Slotting the mag, he cocked the next round, raised, and fired in a smooth, perfected motion. He watched with alien eyes as the brass littered the ground around his feet and wondered, absently, how long it would take for Ranger to get back. These magazines weren't going to last.

The Ranger left the range and entered the dimly lit locker room. Making his way to the locker with his name scrawled on the label he dodged the benches that people would use to sit and clean their guns.When he reached his locker he unlocked it and reached in to remove the remaining guns contained inside. An M4 Carbine, an L85A2, and a second H&K USP. After sliding the USP into the holster on his side he grabbed the two guns by the handle shaped sight on the top of them and made his way back to the range.

Opening the door the Ranger crossed the threshold into the range and moved to the end of the line of stalls to where Nexus and he were shooting. As he approached he could see that his friend had fired enough to leave a large hole in the center of his target. Calling ahead he said, "When you finish that mag hit the button on the wall there and it'll pull the sheet to you so you can replace it with a new one."

Reaching Nexus he glanced at his stance to confirm that he was still holding the weapon properly. "Here we have a military version of a common weapon here in the states. The M4, which is one of the assault rife variants of the AR-15. And this is the English made L85A2. Both of these guns have a faster rate of fire than the Sig with the same size ammo. The exception being that the AR-15 cartridge, which is another word for round, .50 Beowolf. The Beowolf is a .50 caliber cartridge for the AR-15 and it's variants that is similar in power to the 500. That round in particular is best for close to medium range and is often used at vehicle checkpoints to pierce the vehicle if needed."

He then set the weapons in the case, "When you want to pick up and try one of these out. The mags for them are next to them, and as far as the M4 just look at the rounds inside. The larger rounds are the Beowolfs."

(OOC: Sorry for the long delay in posting. Shouldn't happen again in the foreseeable future. Oh, I may not be available the week of the 22nd to 28th as I am going on a trip. I may be able to post, but it will be sporadic at best. )

Jake nodded as Ranger returned and told him about the retrieval button. Keeping the rifle leveled, he squeezed off the last four or five rounds in the magazine before ejecting it and setting the rifle and the mag on the counter. Casually, he washed his senses over the two new toys that Ranger had dragged out.

[colow=white]“Beowolf? That's pretty ironic considering my situation,”[/color] he said with a grin at Ranger as he slipped his sunglasses back on. “Would these do the job against Meld, if it really came down to it, and is there any problem with using those rounds in a gun, like the AR-15, all the time? Oh...where are the replacement target sheets...wait, never mind. Here we go.”

Jake reached out and depressed the button fitted to the wall of the divider and listened to the whir of the small motor that wheeled in the mangled target. It took quite a long time for the sheet to finally arrive, and when it did, Jake plucked the old target down with a look of satisfaction and folded it onto the counter before pulling another sheet from the dispenser on the wall and fitting it into the links. Tapping the button a second time, he watched as the new target settled back into its proper position.

“To be honest, I'd like to try the AR-15 with those big rounds, but would it be better if I started with the L85A2? I want to learn how to use these properly. The last thing I want to do is hurt anyone besides Meld.”

"The Beowulf cartridges can punch through a lightly armored car so they should defiantly be able to do damage to Meld. And the only really negative effect to the gun of firing Beowulf rounds is that the gun will break down a little faster since it was not originally designed for such a large round." The Ranger stated, while Nexus was switching out the targets.

“To be honest, I'd like to try the AR-15 with those big rounds, but would it be better if I started with the L85A2? I want to learn how to use these properly. The last thing I want to do is hurt anyone besides Meld.”

"Well if I can rustle up some rounds for you than you would more than likely want to use an AR-15 or one of it's automatic variants, if you have nothing against using a gun you lack the license for. If you do than I'll get you an AR-15 since you don't have to have one for that since the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act ended in 2004 due to a sunset provision. And that was only if the gun had a pistol grip or not." The Ranger shook his head and laughed at what he believed was just plain legislative silliness. "But I digress. Use the Beowulf rounds with the M4 first and then try out the L85A2. If you can get used to the power of the M4 with those .50 caliber rounds the L85A2 will be a piece of cake to fire."

As he finished speaking he pulled out his G1 and started logging what he needs to acquire for his friend.

“Alright, I'll go with that.” Jake smiled and knelt down to gently lift the M4 out of its case along with one of its Beowolf magazines. Glancing down the top of the mag, he ran his thumb over the surface of one of the rounds. Damn those things were large.

Setting the gun on the table, Jake picked up the Sig, and not knowing where else to place it safely, nestled it into the M4's case gently. Standing once more, he turned his attention to the weapon, running his hands over the surface of it as it lay on the counter. He could instantly feel the firm sense of routine emanating from each part of the weapon. This was a part of a smoothly running whole to Ranger, and that was something Jake could tap into.

Picking up the weapon, he slotted the new magazine of Beowulf rounds into the feeder slot and raised the weapon towards his new and pristine target. Trying to remember where exactly the bullseye had been on the last target, he settled the point in his sights and pulled the trigger. The weapon cracked savagely in his hands, pounding into his shoulder. It was a lot like firing the massive revolver from earlier, only now it hurt a lot more. Jake checked the positioning of his round. Not bad, he figured. His shoulder ached, but he ignored the pain. This was actually very fun!

Settling his aim again, he began cracking off a steady stream of fire into the new target, each round tearing a fairly large rent in the thin beige paper of the target. When he finally emptied the magazine, he glanced towards Ranger.

“After this, I was thinking of grabbing some food. Are you interested?” he inquired jovially.

As the Ranger entered into his phone what guns and ammo to order and looked up the contacts he would have to contact to see about getting the guns and ammo he glanced up to watch Nexus fire. His shots were landing in a nice grouping around the center of the target. That in itself was great, especially for someone on their first day of shooting, but due to the fact Nexus was blind it made the feat unparalleled.

When he finished on his phone he slid it back into a pocket and then knelt down to set the Sig in its space in the oversized metal case, and as he stood back up he heard Nexus addressing him.

“After this, I was thinking of grabbing some food. Are you interested?”

"Yeah, that sounds good. Although, what places are open this late?" Replied the Ranger thinking about how late it must be now. No doubt it was after midnight.

“Oh, I'm sure we can find some place that will be open. This is New York, right? I thought this place was famous for places like that.” Jake grinned as he slotted a second magazine. “Anyway, I'm sure I can sniff us out a place if it comes down to it.”

Jake switched the M4 to fully-automatic mode and raised the weapon as he had been shown and pulled the trigger. Beowulf casings scattered out the side of the rifle as it slammed back into Jake's shoulder through the short burst. His control was moderate at best. The weapon's recoil was horrendous in that mode. He had actually been pushed back an inch or two by the strength of it.

“Man this thing has a ton of kick! I'm going to have a bruise for a week.” Jake set down the M4 after safetying it and rubbed his aching shoulder. He had suffered a lot of bad bruises before during his Parkour adventures, and he was curious how the rifle's retorts would compare.

“So tell me a bit about yourself. You said you were in the army, but what about your family? Have any friends around the city? I'm trying to get to know people....obviously.”

"Most of my food from moving here has come from me cooking or grilling for myself. Most of the chefs here don't seem to understand the word spicy. So I don't really know much about the late night eating here." The Ranger drew out his USP and moved to shoot at his target. He figured that he had imparted the basics on Nexus and that he could shoot and help him when needed.

Aiming at the head the Ranger opened fire, the bullet piercing the paper right through where the forehead would be on a real person. Using that as his guide he fired a few more rounds in very close proximity as he heard Nexus fire the insanely loud .50 caliber rounds in full auto.

“Man this thing has a ton of kick! I'm going to have a bruise for a week.”

"Yeah, and just imagine if you weren't holding it properly. You might actually break something with that much force."

He then heard the Nexus set down the the M4, which wasn't that hard as the only person other than them on the range now was one man down on the other end. Upon hearing that he decided to do a little more difficult shooting with his last six rounds. "Watch this." As soon as the words left his lips he fired a round at his target's head, Nexus' target's head, his target's heart, Nexus' target's heart, and then a round where in the spots his target's eyes would be. The minor variance in accuracy and the speed with which he fired all the rounds a testament to his elite military training.

“So tell me a bit about yourself. You said you were in the army, but what about your family? Have any friends around the city? I'm trying to get to know people....obviously.”

Clicking the safety on he holstered the sidearm and turned to Nexus. "Yeah, I was a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Rangers being an airborn special operations unit who handle direct action operations. Direct action being, short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and employing specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. And as far as family goes... they're dead. Died while I was in the service. Concerning friends though, I have made a few since I moved here a few months back."

Jake literally shuddered as he felt those dark tendrils of meaning shift and coil in the mass of connectivity that composed Ranger. There was tragedy there. Poor man. The sensation trapped within those coils felt alien and yet so familiar to Jake. He too had lost his family, but instead of the sharp and savage loss brought on by a love one's death, he had suffered through the necrotic departure of several intertwined lives. His parents lived on out there somewhere, completely oblivious and uncaring as to where their son had ended up; and his sister could have been a spokeswoman for the human supremacists. Two different flavors of agony.

Jake sighed. There was his foot in his mouth once more. For a moment, he wondered what drove Ranger to be what he was. He was obviously a brilliant soldier, his little demonstration showed that clearly, but Jake was becoming a little concerned for his friend's inner well-being. Was the 'Good Soldier' something that Ranger had put together to remain in control of himself? He had met others that had reforged themselves as a way of dealing with their problems.

“I didn't mean to dredge up old wounds.” The admission was simple and without apology. He doubted that Ranger was the type to invite pity on himself, so Jake offered him none, instead framing his tone and manner as an equal. A subtle indication that he too was in the same state.

“I also meant to ask you. I'm familiar with what seem to be the two big power groups in the city: the X-men and the Order. I'm just curious what you know about them?”

“I didn't mean to dredge up old wounds.”

"It's alright. This world is inherently evil and those things happen." Truth be told the Ranger had never truly been given the chance to grieve his parent's passing. The demanding nature of his involvement in the 1st SFOD-D had forced him to forgo taking time to deal with it. Anytime something would come around to bring it back up the business of the now would take precedence.

“I also meant to ask you. I'm familiar with what seem to be the two big power groups in the city: the X-men and the Order. I'm just curious what you know about them?”

"I do not know much about it, I have heard some of the X-Men but the Order I have heard very little. I have tried to avoid involving myself in any preexisting power struggle. Though, the X-Men seem to make attempts at the vigilante work like I do. Yet, it seems that they would not be as willing to bend or break the rules to reach a greater end as I would." The Ranger wondered how Nexus would take this, very few seemed to agree with his view on right and wrong. To him, it was simple to see that the ends justified the means.

To Jake's inner senses, he could see thick coils of apprehension flow out towards him from Ranger. The man was concerned about Jake's response to that statement. There was a lot of weight behind those words. Jake chuckled warmly.

“Yeah...That's pretty much how I got all wrapped up with Meld. One of the other aspects of my mutation is that it allows me to get a sense of who people are before I ever speak to them. Now normally, I stay out of other's peoples lives. Most people have their own triumphs and tragedies, and they freak out when they realize another person can see these. They're private things to most people, but when I bumped into Meld, it was like she was dripping with murder, and I just couldn't let her be. I could tell she had hurt people, and that she wanted to do it again...” Jake sighed and leaned heavily on the barrier between the two lengths of the range. “So I tried to fix the problem and it didn't work out very well, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. Needed to be done.”

Jake rolled his shoulder a few times, pushing off of the barrier and working out the kinks before picking up the M4 and inserting the next mag of point-five Beowulf into the weapon.

“And that's how I ended up here learning how to shoot... How did you end up fighting Meld?”

"That must be nice to be able to see what kind of a person someone is before ever talking to them. Well, unless the person you meet is Meld I guess. And hey, I salute you for trying to handle Meld. That woman is practically a tank." The Ranger responded as he moved to gather all his magazines from his stall. He had worked on his basic accuracy, he needed to practice now in a more unpredictable environment.

The Ranger set all the mags he had gathered in the oversized case and then looked up at Nexus, "I ran across Meld the first time at a bank. Her and two cohorts broke in and I discovered this when I showed up to do the same thing." Raising a hand to Nexus before he would be given a chance to react, "My reasons were different though! Her group broke in to steal money, I was going to break in to copy data regarding a few accounts that I had linked to a criminal organization in the city. The data would allow me to find them faster and bust them up." He lowered his hand and looked off to the side, obviously bringing the event back into his head.

"That night, for the most part I engaged her young friend Aura, who I tell you is two sandwiches short of a picnic. And they ended up escaping because Aura and Meld used hostages. After their escape I followed them to central park where the male member of their party blinded me with his vans brights and then cut some wires to my bike and Meld crushed my gun. In a later encounter I fought her in a massive mutant brawl, in which she combined with a construction vehicle."