The coffee and shower had woken Stella up enough to return to her desk for another few hours of work. She got a call about an hour in from Damien, asking her how she was and telling her that Penelope wanted to go outside and roam the streets. After telling him it was fine, he begged her to be smart and the call ended, letting her return to work.

And return to work she did, making the coil and aluminum shell that she needed, using her larger model for comparison. Now, she was testing the power of the battery that she had modified herself to be smaller, using the guts of a mako battery. She wanted to conduct a test manually before she wrote the backend code. Had to make sure it worked and how well before hours of programming were done.

So she pulled out her multimeter and clamped the tester probe onto the copper coil, making sure to set the dial accordingly. Taking a deep breath, she had to mentally prepare herself for anything, this being the first test. As much as she hoped she could go onto the next step without a hitch, she knew it wasn't likely. Making sure her yellow safety glasses were pushed high on her nose, she pressed the activation switch and watched as the blue arching glow frayed out into the air. The numbers on the screen of the multimeter began to tick up as the glow grew brighter, the crackling in the room grew.

25mmA….30mmA….35mmA

Almost, she knew it could reach forty-five. It was so close.

The crackling became more erratic and she watched in amazement as it glowed brighter.

45mmA….60mmA...

She watched in bewilderment. No, not sixty. It's not that powerful. Just as the doubt passed her mind, the blue electricity arched up in a charged, reverberating crackle. She was grateful for the glasses, or else she might have too much of an impression burned in her vision to snatch for the control switch. Flipping it off as quickly as she could, she stood back and watched as the arc flickered and scattered in the air until it became a subdued flutter and died out. The numbers on the multimeter had to catch up and slowly rolled down to zero.

After a long, experimental moment, she held her hand over the device, which seemed okay from inspection on the outside. There was light warmth from it, so she dared to touch it and found that it held no charge and wasn't too hot. It had been on for mere seconds, but it was still warm to the touch. Carefully, using a hex key screwdriver, she twisted the tiny screws out of their spots and put them into a small box to keep them from rolling. On the outside everything looked okay, but on the inside?

"Oh, fucking- come on!" She gave in an exasperated cry. The battery was oozing blackened, corroded mako inside the shell. Quickly, she shut the shell and pinched it tight while she rummaged for a plastic bag. There was only a quarter ounce of mako in a battery like this, but it was enough to burn her skin if she touched it or make her sick if she breathed it. The harsh acidic and vinegary scent of the mako, now charred and burned, made her recoil. Plucking up the bag, she set the shell into it and set it on her desk, ignoring the charred black streak that lay on the surface. It would wipe off easily later.

For now, she needed to find that small bottle of oil based alkaline cleanser that would neutralize the acid in the corroded mako so she could recover the shell.

A knock came on the door and she suspected as much, with how loud that mishap was. Abandoning her search for cleaner, she pulled the door open and did little to greet her babysitter. He stood in the doorway and peered in, looking over her work desk and the various amounts of wires, chips, and scrap metal. After a moment he spoke.

"Are you making a bomb?" He asked, standing in place as if he didn't feel okay with stepping inside. She didn't blame him. It looked like she was constructing a death weapon, which was only partially true.

"Gah, I wish. With a bomb, there would be less trial and error." She groaned. "But I assume you heard that? Don't worry, just a malfunction." she trailed off, upset with having to admit it out loud.

"Good. With a bomb, you'd have only one trial and one error." he stated flatly before adding, "You're lucky."

"Yeah… right." She gave before commenting, "Sometimes it can be just as bad as a bomb, for me at least. I've already been electrocuted before, but I have been lucky." Her muttered words trailed off as silence. The man still stood in the doorway.

"Don't electrocute yourself then." He gave unhelpfully and she gave him a look. Before she could make a comment, he pointed at something on her desk. "Grab that, let's go outside." He ordered and she followed his finger. The gun lay at the far end of her desk, far away from any exposure to electricity. She had set it there and hadn't dared touch it since. Knowing it was loaded, she made sure to be as safe as possible.

"Now? Are we really gonna shoot outside right now?" Her voice wavered and he gave a vague grunt as an answer. Immediately, she felt dread wash over her. She didn't want to pick it up, but didn't want to seem ungrateful or uncooperative. Besides, Cloud was probably expecting her to have some kind of gun training by the time the group returned and it was arguably an essential skill with how much she was going to be exposed to. With hesitation, she carefully scooped up the gun, holding it how she was instructed before.

That was enough and Vincent took no time setting off down the hallway. Taking a quick look over her work station, she flipped the light off and chased after him. Catching up, she had to maintain a half skip to keep up, his walking pace was a little too fast. He led her past the conference room and to the sealed, metal door that led outside. Taking a moment to prepare herself, she watched as he pressed a button on a console on the wall. The hiss of the pressure locks releasing signaled the rest of the metal door sliding open to show the outside.

Stepping out into the sunlight, Stella looked out over the railing and to the land surrounding the ship. Overgrown grass and weeds spanned a meadow that led up to the edge of a dense forest. The trees stretched tall into the sky, taller than the walls of Kalm, Stella guessed, and their trunks were heavily concealed by thick shrubbery and briars. The bark of the trunks hardly peaked out under the thick moss and tangle of twisting vines that made their way in clusters up to the treetops. The only break in the wall of nature was a narrow path that disappeared into darkness under the shadows of the trees. The thought of venturing in was foreboding and she suddenly felt extremely lucky for her status as a newbie, glad that instead of laying awake in fear in a tent, she could stay on the ship and also not sleep.

"Wow… I've always heard from travelers about these forests, but this is...more than what I was expecting." She muttered to herself.

Vincent said nothing and instead walked to the edge of the railed platform, stopping by the gate. They were maybe ten feet above the grass on the boarding platform and Vincent wasted no time in pulling the rusted lever by the gate, the foam handle was cracked and dry rotted from the elements. With a shudder and the squeal of mechanisms under the platform, the boarding ramp slid out to the ground and with its extension complete, the gate unlocked and swung open.

Stella followed the tall shadow of a man as he made his way down the ramp and into the knee high grass, which swayed in the chilly breeze. She had to drag her feet through the thick blades until the man stopped a little way into the center of the meadow. Right, it was time for a gun safety lesson.

"Something just occurred to me." Stella began, her nervousness bubbling up, "Cid said there were surveyors and Shinra military out in the forest and guns are loud. Today might not be the best time for this, don't you think? I'd rather go back inside and make lunch than give any trigger happy soldiers a reason to snoop around." She tried and the man had no change in expression as he reached under his cloak.

"I'll take care of any snoopers." His voice flat as ever. Finding what he was searching for, he pulled out a red apple, something he must have fished from the kitchen. Surely that wasn't his idea of assuring her lunch concern.

"What's with the apple?" She asked and almost pointed with what she held in her hand, but realized that pointing a gun at him was not proper etiquette.

"This is your target. It's bright and red and if you can shoot this, you can get a headshot from thirty feet away." He explained, rocking the fruit in the grasp of his clawed gauntlet. A headshot? He was right but it wasn't exactly the kind of thing she wanted to hear so soon after the previous day's incident.

"Oh, nice." Stella muttered flatly, which was either ignored or not heard. "You're serious?" she asked as he still held the apple in his hand. He didn't seem the type to joke.

"I'm going to throw it into the air and you're going to shoot it. When there's no more apple to shoot, we'll go inside and consider practice done." He ignored what she said, inadvertently answering her. She gave him a look and let herself become speechless.

Vincent tossed the apple up into the air and she let her eyes follow it as it was contrasted by the blue sky. It came back down into his palm with a faint thunk. He gave a blank look at the apple in his hand and then looked back up to her, his brows pinched forward.

"You didn't take a shot…" He trailed off, dejected.

"Right. I didn't think you meant right now." She answered dumbly. In response, he gave her a cue this time, pointing at the apple with his clawed finger and then up at the sky.

She took a deep breath and got ready, not having much time to hesitate. With a flick of his wrist, the apple was in flight and Stella took a few steps back and aimed as best she could, not having time to be perfect in the apple's descent. She pulled the trigger and was not at all concerned if she hit the apple. She was more concerned with the earsplitting explosion that echoed off the trees and the lack of a good grasp she had on the gun after it nearly kicked itself out of her hands, she paled and brought the weapon down. She didn't want to shoot it again. She wanted to be done.

Mentally, she talked herself into complacency. It was her first time, of course it was scary. She wasn't expecting the sound or the kick and now she knew what to watch for. Surely that was it and next time wouldn't be so bad. It wasn't much different than her own weapons, her own dangerous explosions of life threatening voltage or metal melting lasers. At least a gun wouldn't malfunction in her hand so she had nothing to be afraid of, right?

"Again." Vincent signaled, the intact apple lay in perfect condition in his palm. This time, she took her aim before he threw it, making sure to hold it more firm. This time would be better. This time would be less scary.

The apple made its ascension and again she took her shot, all hope that she would be prepared was shattered with the silence as the gunshot assaulted her eardrums. It was too much, so soon after the day before. She didn't want to hear another gunshot. Lowering the gun, she looked down at the grass that brushed against her knees.

"I'm done, I can't do this." Her admittal rushed out. "Here, take it back. I can't use this." With that, she held the gun to him, making sure the barrel was pointed down. He looked down at her urgent offering, the apple held by his side. He didn't make any move to take the gun back.

"I'm not ready for this. I appreciate it, but I'll figure it out some other-" She tried again but his head shot up and his interruption was sharp. The abrupt change was shocking and left a pit in her stomach.

"Shh!" He urged and shut his eyes. What did he hear? She froze and waited for some indication. The only thing she got was Vincent holding his hand out for the gun. Wait, was she shushing her? Stella placed the gun in his hand and he flipped it into his grasp.

His next action was a blur of red, his tattered cloak fluttered like fire as he spun towards the tree line. In an all too familiar and damning gunshot, the woods fell silent after the reverberation and Stella was left to search for a clue as she was shaken to the point of silence. Vincent stared at the tree line, lowering the gun as he waited. Not long after, a man in a familiar blue uniform tumbled out of the brambles and to the ground, his hand grasping over his gushing throat. He listened and Stella realized he was waiting for another that never came. Instead, the frantic sounds of leaves and twigs snapping and crunching faded as whoever was hiding fled.

"The other "snooper" ran away. This could be trouble." He observed after some time, his eyes still lingered at the forest edge. Hesitantly, he turned back towards her, holding the same gun out to her. "We'll finish this and head inside. I'll look out in case they return. Practice so you can get them before they get you." He finished, nodding to the gun in his hand.

Stella was still trying to process what the hell just happened. He was so nonchalant about it, totally unphased. He had shot someone dead and turned around like it was nothing.

"How did you know?" She asked, absently taking the gun back, her eyes resting on the weapon.

"I heard them walk up while you were handing that back. I think they were planning to use the distraction as an opportunity." He answered and she took a deep breath.

She was being stupid. Sure it was scary and she knew she was not at all comfortable with the gun in her hands, but it was as the man said. She needed to protect herself first and she'd never be able to if she refused to try. She stepped into a new world when she agreed to come with Cloud and Tifa and now she had to do her part and her part may involve more than simply making weapons. She might have to use weapons at some point, and not just her own. It was unfair that she knew nothing, not to mention dangerous. Putting off learning because she hated the way a gun felt in her hands and the way it sounded when she fired was ridiculous and she would have to get over it.

But it wouldn't be easy and she knew this from the beginning.

"Okay… okay." She began, "Let's see if I can hit that apple at least once."