11 - Fortress city

After 4 days of travel in the convoy, Lisa and Tom finally had the end in sight, along with the adventurers who had guarded the 5 armoured carriages since the beginning.

"Alright, don't get complacent now. The job isn't done until we're inside the gates, I'll distribute the pay then!"

Keeping his guards in check and making sure they didn't get too giddy to focus on what they were paid to do, Ulf still failed to hide his excitement at finally getting to a city as it had been way too long since he had had some beer and a proper bath.

Having also prepared to enter a city after a while, Tom had removed the scope from his M-909 rifle and wrapped it in leather while he hid his empty plate carrier underneath a leather poncho. Now surrounded by grain fields close to harvest, Tom and the other adventurers might be tempted to lower their guard, but the occasional watchtower staffed by longbowmen made Tom realise the current area was perfect for an ambush as all manner of creatures or bandits could be hidden in the grain.

In the middle of the seas of grain was a large city wall, also staffed by city guards with bows almost as tall as themselves, but in addition to a large number of guards, serval townsfolk also spent their time outside the city gates as the season's harvest was already fully underway, farmers brought grain to storehouses where women were busy separating the ears of grain from their seeds. Reaching the gate to the city, Tom was on guard for another inspection, but luckily the entire caravan was let through into the city after Ulf presented his trade licence. 

"Okay everyone, line up for your pay!"

Watching the adventurers lining up to get their pay together with Lisa, Tom was about to leave when he was once again surrounded by adventurers.

"Hey buddy, please let us buy you a drink!"

"You really saved our asses back then, this is the least we could do!"

Stuck in a situation he really didn't want to agree to, Tom looked to Lisa.

"... I don't think it's a good idea to bring a child-"

"I'm not a child, let's get going."

Betrayed by the child he was supposed to be protecting, Tom soon found himself surrounded by even more adventurers, all with beers in hand and hesitant expectations as they waited for him to start their evening party.

"I guess celebrations are in order! Both for what was gained and for what was lost, CHEERS!"

Starting the party with that mediocre line, Tom took a backseat as the adventurers started drinking themselves senseless while Lisa stuck up a conversation for once.

"Why are they drinking?"

"Because they're in pain, and this right here is the best way to fix that."

Gesturing to the half finished pint of beer in his hand, Tom knew all too well that the adventurers wouldn't be able to continue to do what they were doing if they didn't have an outlet like this after.

"... Are you in pain too?"

Glancing at Tom and his own drink with worry, Lisa started thinking about what she was going to do without him, unconsciously she had started depending on him.

"No, not really. If I ever had a soul it has long since rotted away into nothing… Look, I've killed people, a lot of people. I've killed friends, strangers, enemies, allies, the guilty and the innocent. I've killed people with guns, explosives, knives and my bare hands. I've seen and done horrible things, doing these things changes a person."

Having decided to stop treating Lisa like a child, Tom made sure she was sure she knew what she was getting into.

"If you really want to go down this road, to learn to fight like me won't be fun, and it'll hurt in more ways than you can imagine."

There was a pain in Tom's voice Lisa couldn't quite pin down exactly, but it sounded like a mix of regret, resignation, fear and a pure rage hardly subdued by the tenderness of age.

"I… I've done nothing other than run my entire life. I don't want to hurt people, I want to be able to protect those I care about and I want to be able to protect myself."

Seeing the determination clearly visible in Lisa's eyes, Tom decided at that moment he would take her under his wing. Finishing his beer immediately, Tom turned to the still tense Lisa with a somewhat mischievous smile.

"Well, in that case there's no reason to stay here, let's get going."

"O-Okay!"

Finding a place to spend the night, Tom and Lisa paid next to nothing to stay the night in a crummy inn and got up bright and early to leave the city behind temporarily.

"First of all, let's get you some equipment… To start with you need a plate carrier."

"A plate carrier?"

Sitting down on a rockface out in the wasteland after making sure there were no monsters nearby, Tom started explaining what a plate carrier was while starting to summon one.

"A plate carrier is a vest which is designed to hold bullet or stab proof plates in addition to other equipment. What's important here is its ability to be a fixed point for your ammunition and other equipment, no matter what changes you always know where your next magazine is, this helps you to get familiar firearms quickly."

(I'll need a new plate carrier, this one needs to fit Lisa.)

QURREY_COMPLEATE

STATUS:_AVALIBLECOST:_2.000_POINTSCONFIRM_PURCHASE_Y/N?

(Yes please.)

As Tom had expected, any kind of material which didn't exist in this world was expensive to summon, but luckily he had a lot of points to spend at the moment. As the carbon fibre plastic polymer vest appeared in front of Tom he quickly inspected before teaching Lisa how to put it on.

"Good, then you'll need a weapon… Hmm."

While summoning another PHX-13 for Lisa would be the easiest way to arm her, it wasn't really the best weapon for her to learn, with it having a highly irregular feed and magazine system.

(Something like a M-507 would be better to learn… Is that available?)

REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.

STANDBY.

The M-507 was in the same 'family' of firearms as the M-909 dedicated marksman rifle, designed to share interchangeable parts and ammunition, thus it looked like a stubby version of it.

QURREY_COMPLEATE

STATUS:_AVALIBLECOST:_3.500_POINTSCONFIRM_PURCHASE_Y/N?

"Yes please."

At Tom's words, a M-507 personal defence weapon appeared out of thin air, quite similar to a M-909, but only half the length with its magazine in the rear, integrated to its stock.

"This is a M-509 PDW, it is quite similar to my rifle and uses the same ammunition. You should be at least a bit familiar with it."

Passing the weapon to Lisa, Tom quietly waited while she inspected the weapon, indeed finding it somewhat similar to his rifle.

"The… controls? Are all the same."

"Yeah, it was made so you only needed to train with one weapon platform, The M-709, to use all of its derivatives. Try shooting."

Handing Lisa a magazine, Tom continued to just observe as she inserted it, released the bolt and selected single action before squeezing the trigger.

"AW!"

Surprised by the large amount of recoil kicking the shit out her shoulder, Lisa cried out in pain. 

"Yeah, that's what happens when you try to use full fat API ammunition with a M-507."

Grinning like a highschooler who just pulled off a prank, Tom tossed Lisa another magazine.

"Try these instead."

Grabbing the magazine Tom was extending out, Lisa was a bit annoyed when Tom didn't let go.

"What?"

"Always check what ammunition you have chambered, this time it just hurts a bit, but there is ammunition which will rip your arm out of its socket if fired from the wrong platform."

"... Okay, but you really don't have to be a dick about this every single time."

While Lisa appreciated the lesson which made her take her choice of ammunition seriously, she really didn't like Tom's dickish method of teaching.

"Well it's the only way that works in my experience, now load, set and aim. Then, I'll go over the next steps."

Over the next few days, Lisa continued to improve doing Tom's training, to such an extent he had trouble keeping up. After learning basic marksmanship training, Lisa quickly mastered maintenance, movement and communication.

Still, she had much to learn when coming to combining it all.

"Targets."

"Ready."

"Hit it."

On Tom's command, Lisa started placing 5 round bursts on alternating rocks while slowly advancing forward with Tom following right behind. While walking and shooting semi-accuracy was somewhat impressive, it wasn't really that useful in combat as she wasn't aware enough to notice her surroundings, or where she was stepping.

"Ambush rear!"

"Eh!-"

Swinging around way too fast, Lisa didn't notice the rock at her feet and tripped with her finger still on the trigger, letting loose a round before Tom caught her by the strap on the back of her plate carrier.

"And what did we learn?"

"... I need to watch my feet more."

"Good, and what did we remember?"

"... To watch my trigger discipline."

Avoiding Tom's eyeline as she still was held by the scuff of her neck, Lisa knew she had messed up, but that still didn't make her magically love his ever present attitude.

"Good. As a reward, run out to the horizon and come back."

"But-"

"No buts, get going."

Sending Lisa off in full gear to run a few kilometres over rough terrain (which was her 'favourite' punishment) Tom sat down on a nearby rock and started shopping. 

INTERFACE_CONFIRMED:_ACTIVE.

CONNECTION_SECURE.11.450_POINTS_AVAILABLE.

(As expected, training Lisa is eating a bit into my savings…)

Over the past few days, Tom had noticed an increased amount of attention on him and Lisa while in town, an attention he didn't really appreciate.

(Even if they're just curious it's still better to be prepared, I need something mostly non-lethal.)

"Can I get a X-98 Theta grenade?"

QURREY_COMPLEATE

STATUS:_AVALIBLECOST:_200_POINTSCONFIRM_PURCHASE_Y/N?

"Yes please, and I would also like a pair of Mark-XI CBRN masks to go along with that."

Although it cost him a thousand points more to get a pair of masks in addition to just the grenade, Tom judged it worthwhile as the X-98 was a gas grenade containing compound theta, a very potent teargas which he had used quite a bit in his past life as a 'less than lethal' alternative to firearms. Still, labelling Theta gas as 'non-lethal' was a bit of a stretch, with its propensity to leave people exposed to large doses of it permanently blind with horrible chemical burns, even if it didn't kill, a weapon was still a weapon and should be treated as such.

"... It would be great if I don't have to use this on people again…"

Often in his old life, Tom had used different kinds of gas or white phosphor to smoke out opponents before gunning them down. This left quite a bitter taste in his mouth especially as such tactics often led to collateral damage and horribly maimed civilians.

Stopping himself from wallowing in self-pity and regret, Tom focused his energy into something more important as he got off of ass and started looking for Lisa who should soon be back from her run.

"If anything, I have to make sure she becomes a better person than I ever was…"