14606/The hills are alive with the sound of gunfire

The hills are alive with the sound of gunfire
Date of Scene:	17 November 2022
Location:	Private Property, Adirondack Mountains, New York
Synopsis:	Sarah and Bucky reminisce over some target shooting, and plans are made... Oh no, what have we wrought?!
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Sarah Connor

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James Barnes has posed:
It's hard to imagine a place more remote. Here, in the forests at the foothills of the Adirondacks, just off the border of the state park, it's hard even to tell what time of day it is. It's nearly noon, of course, but the dense canopy of the trees makes the sky almost impossible to see, except for a few brief glimpses every now and then. The road leading here is a mere tributary of a small side road that, if given some care and major upgrades, might at one point be regarded as a dirt road. Right now it's not so much rutted, as giving the appearance that all the ruts have run together and carved out the deep hollow that is this... well... path. It's accessible to vehicles, if your idea of a vehicle includes descriptors like 'rugged', 'sturdy', and above all 'reliable'.

The last sign of civilisation was fifteen miles ago, and that only a small holiday cottage of sorts.

If someone wanted to disappear, they couldn't have chosen any better. Or, naturally, if someone wanted to do something out of sight of the authorities, this is the ideal place for it. It's the kind of place that seems to eat rangers and makes a light snack of IRS agents. It is, therefore, perhaps the strangest and yet most perfect place for a shooting range.

The turn into the property proper is not signposted. It is, in fact, not indicated at all. Either you have been told it's there and you are looking for it, or you'll miss it. In fact, even if you're looking for it, you're liable to miss it until you've managed to find it a few times. There's precious few signs of life out here, but a few tire tracks do indicate that something has driven here recently. Recently being somewhere within the last fifteen years, looking at this place.

After the turn, the 'Private Property' sign is hard to miss, mostly because the obligatory 'Trespassers will be shot' notice is riddled with what looks like buckshot.

Charming.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Enter Sarah.

Now, to be honest, she has a knack for details. She better. What with the terminators being able to disguise themselves almost perfectly as anyone they chose too.

Sarah finally took a day to drive up here - mostly to vent off steam, and to mull around in her head the latest asking of Clint. Giving him a chip could be a very frightening thing. What with his being part of SHIELD. And making him one step closer to a friend?

Fuck.

Even this Bucky was a chance for her. Since when did she let people in? And yet, here she was, going along the trail, knowing that he (Bucky) was someone else she was letting him in bit by bit.

And she was frightened.

Once there she unloaded her truck. Took a deep breath, and headed off.. thataway to shoot herself back to calm.

James Barnes has posed:
Despite this being purportedly a shooting range, there is nothing even as dignified as a car park. It's a field with grass that has been mown short and kept relatively clear of tree roots and other large flora, but that's it. The only clue as to its purpose is one truck and one car parked on it before Sarah arrives. Both of them have the same thing in common... they're about as unremarkable and non-descript as it's possible for a vehicle to get. Even the license plates are registered in-state. Binghamton to be exact. They have the look of vehicles that are used to get someone from point A to point B with as little fuss as possible.

Near the field is a cabin that has the hallmarks of being hand built. Some of the wood is darker than the rest, blackened as if recycled from another cabin that has somehow gone up in flames. A foopath of sorts leads down to this cabin, but another human being is currently coming up towards the car park. Well, supposed human being. A young-ish man, wearing a ballcap that hides his hair color and a pair of sunglasses that make his eye color impossible to note. His clothes are loose but functional, and stained with grass, dirt, and mud. The bag slung over his shoulder almost certainly doesn't contain fishing gear. By his side trots a young eager looking German Shepherd, either the same dog Sarah has once seen in the company of Bucky, or its identical twin.

The young man gives a brief nod, stows his gear in the car, lets his dog in, and then pulls away without a word. Another visitor? Someone who knows the owner?

At any rate, the path leads invitingly towards the cabin, and after a few more moments another German Shepherd trots towards Sarah, older and looking slightly less playful but still very friendly.

Her escort, it seems.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah had a lots of guns on her person, and when she saw the young man she froze in her place. Without a hello, she nodded. Gave a grunt of a greeting. And continued on, worried about who he was.

Didn't Bucky say no one comes up here? and given that it was a Wednesday..

She frowned. Yet he did seem comfortable around here.

As she moved further into the field, and further into the bush, the German shepherd watches over her. Both friendly, and something else..

"I'm afraid I don't know your name. You better not run out when I am firing." Sarah told him. "I have too many things to think about other than worrying about you. Where's your human?" She pulled out a gun and began to load it.

James Barnes has posed:
There is a swift bark at the question of where the dog's human is. The energetic motion frees the tag on the collar, proclaiming this friendly dog to be 'Lilli', the other dog once seen with Bucky in recent past. He must come here as well...

In fact, speak of the devil.

At the bark, Bucky comes up the path to the field, and motions for Sarah to follow him. No words spoken, no greeting given. Quite possibly he's going to introduce her to the owner of this place, who must absolutely love his privacy. A shame then that there are no targets in view. Nothing, in fact, but forest and hill.

Lilli barks one more time and follows Bucky, then looks over her shoulder, trots back, trots a circle around Sarah, and then trots off after Bucky again. That must be canine for 'follow'...

Sarah Connor has posed:
Hey, Sarah has practiced in worse conditions than this. The rain forests being one..

Apparently Bucky must have seen her driving up the road. A thing that makes the guest seem more sensible! Tossing her rifle over her shoulder, she follows, without a peep.

She figures he will talk when he wants to. That's about par for the course as far as she knows. And frankly, she prefers it to making conversation for conversation's sake.

James Barnes has posed:
There is a path around the cabin. Whereas the front of the cabin looks like the usual semi-deserted family retreat built by someone determined never to speak to anyone ever again, the rear of the property... well...

Hidden behind the cabin, and extending along the side of a shallow hill that hides it from view, is an outdoor shooting range that must have taken some time to set up. Bucky is waiting there, arms crossed, nodding at Sarah. "Glad you could make it. Ready for some serious shooting?"

At that he nods to the pistol range, with targets set at unmarked distances. There's the usual scoring circles found on competitive marksmanship courses, but also plenty of steel silhouettes and several skill challenges. "Texas star, Mozambique pop up, spinner, take your pick. Spray fresh paint on 'em when you're done."

There also seems to be a rifle range and, further out, a ghillie mat has been laid down. Lilli trots up to it and lays down by the spotter scope. In the distance... way, way off in the distance on an opposing hillside, the merest hint of a glimmer of a half concealed target can be made out.

Sarah Connor has posed:
At first she doesn't quite know where he's taking her. Until it becomes apparent.

Sarah lets out a low whistle. "I wondered. /This/ was what I was hoping for. And then some. You've got long distance shooting as well." Which was excellent, and certainly nothing like what she expected. Then again.. He did tell her this place was for people who didn't want anyone noticing in their practice.

Of course there was sniping practice here. D'uh.

"Normally I would use twigs and leaves to mark my shots. I didn't want anyone noticing what I was up to." Which meant none of this fancy stuff! Not that she was complaining. No siree. "What would you suggest?"

James Barnes has posed:
"Depends on what you're looking to do." Bucky smiles, while putting a pair of mutt muffs on Lilli. And then doggles as well, of course, so she looks properly like the military dog she absolutely isn't. "For close up work against a man sized target that's not actually immune to bullets, start with the mozambique pop up. Shot to the head to flip it down, shot to the heart to flip the head back up again. Repeat until you can do it reflexively. General pistol marksmanship, try the steel target at 50 yards or the texas star. Looks easy at first, but you'll find out why it's a challenge. Do that if you want to be able to acquire a target quickly and shoot it down."

He's being... extremely matter of fact about this. Exactly who comes to shoot here?!

"Spinner is best if you're still getting used to your pistol. Starts slow, gets faster, doesn't forgive a jerked trigger or a late pull. Alos a good target if you're looking to test out some hand loads or you're looking to tinker with your trigger break pressure."

Better question, who does he train here?!

"Rifle targets start at a hundred yards, all the way out to four hundred for iron sights, starts again at six hundreds for low optics. You shoot that target, you walk all the way over there to repaint it afterwards."

No word about the sniper target... or, considering this range, targets.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"I DON'T shoot humans." Sarah says it like she means it. At least not to death. Though, she hasn't had to shoot to wound a human.. yet. She nods at his instructions.

"The terms aren't really hurt by pistols. Though they are knocked back a little. That can buy you a few seconds. The rifle seems about right. Though I would be amiss to not have some fun with the pistols."

Sarah was a marksman. And she had experience well beyond someone without military training should have. A whole lot more. She took out her 'rifles' and prepared them quietly. "I wouldn't mind learning more about the sniper. But this will have to do to warm up."

She flew through to targets at 100' and 400'. Very careful. Very focused. "I won't ask you how many people use the low optics to practise on. Let me guess, your friend doesn't like guns very much, but I imagine he's a crack shot with that bow of his?"

James Barnes has posed:
"Depend on which friend you're talking about." Bucky mentions as he sights in his rifle, an old fashioned Marine 'Kate'. For a moment there's not a sound, not a movement, and then the shot rings out. A .338 Lapua speeds off and makes another dent in a target nearly three seconds later. It's impossible to see without high power optics, but the bark by his side seems to indicate that Lilli saw the hit. Or she's just excited. "But I'm guessing you mean my bow wielding friend. He's actually extremely good with pistols, just prefers his bow for the serious work."

It's then that something catches his attention. Those shots that Sarah has been placing on the targets are regular, properly spaced out, and all grouped tightly together. Opening the bolt of his own rifle, he ejects the spent case and then stands up, looking over Sarah's shoulder from a distance.

Then he takes in the professional stance, the grip, the deliberate concentration before every aimed shot. "Venezuela? Columbia? Beka Valley?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Amongst others. I spent quite a few years doing gun running for the cartel. I learned a lot. Including how not to shoot if you don't have to. It's a funny thing, the terminators didn't know where I was. My main goal was to get my son enough years under his belt that he would have a fighting chance against them."

"Fat lot of good. I got trounced in a raid. Send to an insane asylum for the criminally insane. And almost gave up. When I escaped he wanted one thing: To finish out his school in an American school."

Sarah took another round of shots. "Yes, I meant him. He had mentioned something like just him and his bow were all he needed. I extrapolated from that. He wants a chip." She put it out there in the open.

James Barnes has posed:
"That probably means SHIELD wants a chip. Probably not a bad idea, they're used to dealing with mechanical menaces." The fact that they've also created a few is something Bucky wisely doesn't mention. "Would probably help to figure out who or what's producing them."

There's no need to ask which 'them' he's referring to.

"I did some work for the Cartel, as ... well, call me a sub-contractor. That was back in the day, of course." The time of the 'clear and present danger' doctrine, and the disastrous few months of jungle fighting by troops not used to jungles. But he also catches the clear mentions of Sarah's son, and her motivation to fall in with the Cartel to begin with.

"How's his marksmanship? If it's like yours, it's just a matter of polishing. Otherwise I could run him through a few courses."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"He's not me. But he's fairly good." Compared with a regular person. "His real passion is with computers." With that sarah shakes her head. "I've never seen anyone like him. Without him we wouldn't have nearly enough information as we do. His skill keeps on growing. When he takes over the people's resistance.."

Again, she shakes her head in disbelief.

When Bucky offers to give him some lessons, Sarah nods thoughtfully. "Considering, it might not be a bad thing." Even with Cameron.

She smirks when he mentions the Cartel. "I see. They have their uses." Then she frowns. "Actually he said something about the Avengers? How Tony Stark was a genius, and not to mention it around his hearing. It sounds.. I don't know. There are so many things that could go wrong. Very, very wrong."

James Barnes has posed:
"For what it's worth, I've worked with Tony in the past. Multiple times." Bucky begins, standing next to Sarah, his eyes on the target range. He's either looking at the fall of shot without any kind of magnification, or he's looking at something from the past. It's one of those looks that can go either way. Because Bucky is remembering another Stark just now. "The man is a genius. And Clint is right, never let Tony hear you say it, or he'll be insufferable for weeks. But he knows machines and robotics better than anyone else. If anyone can crack that chip, it's Tony." As long as he doesn't connect it to the rest of the world just to see what would happen. Or upload into into some form of malevolent AI. Or build a whole personal army of... Hmmm. Maybe not such a good idea? But then who else is there?

"Your son sounds like a friend of mine. Always doing something with a computer. But I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her, so maybe I'm going to have to move with the times and gets more serious about the computer thing. So here's what I propose..."

Oh?

"I'll teach your son how to shoot like the unholy offspring of a Spetznaz trooper and a US Marine sniper that cheated with a German Jaeger. You've got my personal guarantee on that. In return, he tries to teach me computers. Tries. I'm not expecting miracles."

Sometimes you have to move with the times before the times move you...