“I told you, I know how to snipe. I was the best long-distance shooter of the Black Rats.” Zane commented crossly.

Zane and Lisa were already crossing through the woods leading to the slope where Hanna and the ERM were still working. Lisa was carrying her .50cal sniper and a box of ammo for it. Zane was holding three old, broken plastic buckets they had found in one of the storage units. ​​

“You might know how to point at something and pull the trigger, but that’s not all sniping is.” Lisa replied. “Now, I don’t have all day to explain what a sniper is actually capable of doing. We only have less than two hours before nightfall. So, what I will have you do is shoot those buckets.”

“Pfft, that’s easy.” Zane replied holding up the buckets next to his head. He smiled confidently, “These things are going to be simple to shoot.”

“Oh, are you sure?” Lisa asked jokingly. “Look at those buckets and tell me what you see on them.”

Zane quickly inspected the buckets carefully as the two reached the woodlands edge. Beyond they could see the ERMs three Minion Class Mineral Mover Mechs working near the edge of the cliff. It looked to Lisa that they were getting ready to start pushing rocks over the edge. They already had an impressive amount rock and sand prepared.

“Perhaps they are getting ahead of schedule.” Lisa thought as she eyed the black and yellow striped machines. “I wonder which MCM3 has Hanna in it. They all look to be working equally as skilled now.”

“These buckets say, ‘Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.’ on them and they have a smiling shrimp mascot too.” Zane answered bringing Lisa’s thoughts back to the present.

“Very good. I want you to shoot these buckets right between that little happy shrimp’s eyes.” Lisa answered with playful twinkle in her grey eyes. She then turned left to go along woodlands edge and further into the desert scrubland.

“Seriously?” Zane remarked as he looked back down buckets again. “These shrimp’s heads are maybe six centimeters tall and half that wide. That’s going to be on heck of a shot to make.”

“Does that sound too hard for you? The big bad gangster can’t shoot a little bitty cartoon shrimp.” Lisa teased him with her cutie sounding voice.

“Shut up. I can do it.” Zane scoffed.

Lisa saw that a log that had fallen into the desert and was now facing the relatively flat, open expanse of wilderness. Coming to a stop she overlooked the rocky landscape briefly. Seeming satisfied, Lisa set the .50cal and ammo box onto the log.

“You will use this log to support the guns weight, plus I just cleaned it and I don’t want any sand on it.” Lisa explained. “I’ll go set up the buckets out there on the rocks. Of course, I’ll put them farther out each time. Until I get back, get the scope sights set up to where you can see properly. I won’t be long.”

Lisa did her best to estimate making her strides to be a meter in length and she counted out one hundred steps before placing the first bucket down on a boulder. She made sure that the little happy shrimp was facing Zane before moving to the next spot. She placed the next bucket at three hundred meters out and the last bucket at five hundred meters.

Lisa could have placed the buckets further out as the .50cal was perfectly capable of shooting much farther than five hundred meters. However, they did not have the time. The sun was already sinking behind the distant mountain and the wind was also dying out.

When Lisa returned, she was pleased to see that Zane was already lying prone in the sand with the .50cal’s tripod resting on the log. She was equally as pleased to see that he was waiting for her to return with the guns chamber open and unloaded. This showed that he knew basic gun safety as well as that he didn’t have any intentions of shooting her in the back. So far Zane was turning out to be quite the trustworthy fellow.

“Alright, you can shoot when you are ready.” Lisa said to Zane as she came to stand next to him. “You have a light crosswind coming from your left, so plan your shot accordingly. We have a full box of ammo, so if you miss it will be alright.”

“I won’t miss but once.” Zane replied as he picked up the large .50cal bullet from the box and he quickly chambered it. “Oh, that chambering sounded so mean! I’ve never shot a gun this big before.”

“Is that why you said you’d only miss once?” Lisa asked as she crossed her arms under her chest.

“Well, that and to make sure I calibrated the scopes settings correctly.” Zane replied.

Lisa watched him as he brought the scope close to his right eye. However, he didn’t pull the scope all the way up to his face. He already knew that the recoil coming from shooting was liable to hurt him if he was to close.

His breathing stopped for a brief second and then, “Blam!” Zane pulled the trigger. Reactively Lisa looked up at the closest bucket and saw that it was rolling across the ground.

“That was my miss.” Zane replied. “I only hit the bucket and not the shrimp.”

“I see. Well let me go stand it back up really quick.” Lisa replied and she started for the bucket.

“No need to do that.” Zane called before Lisa could step past the log. “The bucket stopped rolling and I can see the shrimp’s face.”

“Alright then, suit yourself.” Lisa shrugged and went back to her place.

Zane pulled back on the bolt of the sniper to load the next round and the spent shell went spinning away. He then chuckled as he started aiming for the bucket, “That recoil was way stronger than I expected. That deep boom was also wonderful!”

“I totally understand that feeling. Shooting a gun never gets old.” Lisa sighed fondly. “There is nothing quite like the feeling of protection, power, and trustworthiness that a gun provides.”

A few seconds later Zane had shot at the bucket, and it went tumbling away. Adjusting his prone position Zane aimed for the next one. Lisa remained watchful and quiet as Zane prepped himself. When he shot, just like before, the second bucket toppled down from the rock Lisa had placed it on.

The third shot took a bit longer to make, but just as Zane promised, he did not miss. Leaving the .50cal on the log Lisa and Zane both went to see how well he did.

“Well, you stuck to your word and only shot four times.” Lisa remarked as they arrived at the first bucket. Bending down to grab the bucket, Lisa let out a low whistle. “You nailed that shrimp. Your first shot was close too.”

“That one was easy. The last bucket is the one I’m worried about.” Zane replied.

The second bucket had rolled away farther than either of them expected. They found it wedged between and behind a rock and a scraggly bush. This shrimp too had its head blasted away without so much as a bit of red paint left.

When they picked up the last bucket it was clear to them, he had struck home. Half of the shrimp’s face was missing. Lisa laughed and tossed the bucket to him playfully.

“Alright, you have proven you can snipe fairly well. Now I’ll explain your part in this factory bust out. Let us get the sniper and head over to the slope as we talk.” Lisa explained. “I want you to lay cover fire for when we break into the factory. I noticed that the area between the town and the golf course fence is exposed, just like the area around us now is. The tricky part will be to distinguish who is friend and who is not. Killing any innocent will foil the plans I have for after we free them.”

“Your thinking of what to do once there are free already?” Zane said with a twinge of awe in his voice. “I figured you would come up that later on.”

“Well, mostly I will be doing that.” Lisa replied giving a sly look at him. “But I am betting on that for freeing them they will be more loyal to assisting me. Just like I did with you.”

Zane chuckled. “Hey, don’t get ahead of yourself. I am helping you so I can pay off my debt for you saving my life and that I see you have some ambitions for making us rich. Why wouldn’t I try following your lead?”

“Oh, not because I am charming?” Lisa asked looking sideways at him.

Zane blushed. “W-well, I am more afraid of what you’d do to me if I tried to leave right now.”

Lisa sighed and at first, she sounded sad but as she continued to speak her voice grew dark. “Am I that scary? Oh well, you are probably right to worry. If you turned on me, I just might undo those stitches myself. Traitors are the worst.”

Zane looked aghast upon hearing her say this. Lisa had been acting so friendly the past few weeks that this sudden reminder of what lurked within her startled him. He looked at her to see if Lisa was joking, but to his horror, she looked completely serious.

“That’s right Zane.” Lisa continued. “I am normally a nice person to those I choose to be nice too. However, I’m sure you’ll see the monster that I am sooner or later.”

“Y-you mean like when you fight? T-this look you have now is like when you fought the Match Fighters.” Zane asked nervously.

“Hmm, not really. I was messing around with them most of the time.” Lisa replied thoughtfully as she put a finger to her pale lips. “You haven’t seen me at my worst yet.”

“What’s your w-worst like.” Zane ventured to ask.

“You don’t need to know, unless I need to become my old self.” Lisa replied before giving an overhead wave.

Just ahead of them were the ERM and Garret standing near the cliffs edge watching Terisa yell at the mech pilots. Gillian saw Lisa waving and he waved back. He then left the others to meet Lisa and Zane halfway.

Lisa lowered her arm and continued to speak with Zane. “Hopefully that time will never come. The reason I am helping this town is to make a new life for myself and I want the past to stay that way. Understood?”

Zane nodded and gulped. He could never tell what this tall woman was up to or what she was thinking. One minute she was friendly and the next she looked ready to kill. He knew she used to be in the military and that she had done some rough thing, but there had to be more to her than what she had told him and the others.

“What are you two doing?” Gillian asked.

“Just out doing some shooting.” Lisa replied putting back on her pleasant expression.

“Oh, so that’s what those booms were. They sounded far off but I didn’t know from where?” Gillian replied.

“So, how’s the work going?” Lisa asked looking past him.

“Great, we are knocking the first layer of rocks over now.” Gillian replied.

“Awesome. I will get Mr. Hans to come over here as soon as I find him.” Lisa replied while rubbing her hands together. “I do need one major favor.”

“Ask away.” Gillian said spreading his arms wide.

Lisa cleared her throat, “Before Hanna is done for the day, I need her to bring one or two piles of wood and brush from the path back to the dam. We are going to be taking on a new ambitious project and firewood is going to be must.”

“That will be fine. I wouldn’t mind driving the Mech back for her.” Gillian said giving a nod.

“Thanks. Things are going to be getting terribly busy for us soon. The sooner we get electricity running to you guys the better.” Lisa remarked. "Then that's when my plans will really get underway. All this work is just setting the stage for what is going to come next!"