Again after what seemed like miles of halls and corridors Aleu and Rohn arrived at another district of the Citadel, the training sector. Here all new recruits and seasoned Regulators alike come to train themselves, learn, and sharpen there combat skills and techniques. The sector was consisted of one major hallway and lining either side were self opening iron doors that led to sub-districts. Each sub-district focused on a particular form or skill in combating the Darkwatch’s supernatural foes. Novices would start at the beginning of the hallway and work themselves down towards the other end, each sub-district being harder than the last and forced the recruit to use the skills learned in previous sessions. But before Rohn led Aleu to the first training area he led her to what seemed to be a locker room, and a larger one at that! It was at least half a football field in length and as wide. I had multiple levels and seemed to be four or so stories high! The lockers were made of iron and were inset into the stone walls. Each locker had a number and name slot on the front and a name slot on the inside. Rohn led her to a locker on the ground level numbered 0047.

“Well, here is the first big step. Inside is you uniform, this will be the outfit that you will ware 90% of the time. From here on out your life will changer forever.” Rohn said to Aleu; she paused for a moment. Thoughts kept racing through her mind, is this really what she wanted? Will she open the locker, what will happen after ward? Then Aleu took in a breath and reached out. She placed her fingers on the handle and lifted the latch. The locker’s hinges creaked as the door swung open. Inside hanging on a hook was a set of black leather overalls with light grey or faded white trim. A pair of black leather gloves/gauntlets with silver claws on the every finger and thumb except for the index finger, the knuckles had a rectangular steel plate with molded knuckled on the top. The boots were of the typical “Western” style but were feminine and still yet looked utilitarian. They had silver spurs on the heals but the spur itself was a solid silver disk with the edges razor sharp. They were steel toed and the plate was fixed on the outside of the boot instead of the other way around. Also hanging in the locker was a black cloth shirt, a red bandanna, and black leather, long sleeved jacket with the same trim as the overalls. Aleu was quietly in awe as she gazed upon the gothic outfit before her. Then she heard Rohn speak.

“I’ll wait outside, don’t take too long now.” And with that he turned and stepped outside the locker room and waited in the main hall. Once Aleu heard the Iron doorway shut she quickly began scheming. She was completely alone and unguarded, it would be the perfect time to make a break for it; or was it. Indeed this was the perfect situation to get out of sight but the question was could she really escape? The Citadel is an extremely vast maze of halls and corridors. The only reason she knew where to go was because she had a guide of sorts. And she would most likely end up being spotted anyway, being the fur that she is made her stick out like a sore thumb. After seeing many of the regulators waling a bout there weren’t many others like her, let alone a Wolf! She’d have to wait for some other opertunity. She began to undress, leaving her under garments on, and then began putting on the uniform.

Rohn was waiting outside the locker room’s door and was resting against the wall. A few moments later he heard the door slide open and the sounds or spurs chinging. Aleu stood by and Rohn suddenly had an impressed look on his face.

“Ma’am, if you don’t mind my saying you look rather becoming in that!” said Rohn politely and then bowed in respect. Aleu raised an eyebrow.

“And what’s that supposed to mean!?” Aleu said sternly, putting her hands on her hips.

“It was meant to be a complement, its not often we get a female member these days. I meant not disrespect, but some of the others may want to take a crack at you so be careful.” He said to Aleu then guiding her towards the first district. Aleu chuckled at his comment.

“Oh I can handle the likes of them just fine thank you, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had that problem.” Smiled Aleu, Rohn smiled a bit too.

“No Ma’am, I recon you won’t.” he said. Soon they came to the first Sub-District entrance. Inside was like an over glorified gymnasium, per say. Like every part of the Citadel it was vast, vastly deep, vastly wide, and cathedral like ceilings and multi leveled. “Alright Aleu, lets see what you can do hand-to-hand.”

Meanwhile, Jericho Cross was walking towards the center of the Citadel. Here is where the main offices were and where the “General” oversaw the Darkwatch’s operations. General Rourke stood looking out of his window. All around him he saw the thousands of regulators scurrying about preparing for the never ceasing war against Evil. Then his office door opened and in walked a guard.

“Sir, Agent Cross is here.”

“Let him in then.” The General said quietly. The guard saluted and then left the room. Shortly after ward stepped in Jericho.

“You sent for me Sir?” said Jericho is his deep voice.

“Yes I did. Tell me, what information is there on the Mesa Verde attack?” Rourke asked as her turned his head over his shoulder to see Jericho.

“What we do know is that there was an artifact on the freight train that broke down. What ever it was, it was the catalyst for the town’s destruction.” Jericho replied.

“And what is this artifact?” asked the General.

“We can not say for certain, but from what we’ve gathered so far it may be… another prism.” The General quickly turned to face Jericho. His face covered with concern.

“Are you sure? Mesa Verde was caused by another Prism?” General Rourke said.

“Regrettably we haven’t been able to confirm, but from how things appear that’s what it looks like.” After Jericho finished General slumped down into his chair.

“This is serious Cross, Very Serious! If it is another prism it could be “Ground Zero” all over again! As of this moment the Mesa Verde case is of Top Priority. Track down what happened and destroy anything that gets in you way. If it is another Prism destroy it. I want NO chance of it getting into the wrong hands, understood?” Rourke said sternly. Jericho nodded his head slightly and replied.

“Sir.” With that Jericho left Rourke’s office. Rourke himself folded his hands and put his elbows on his desk. He was in deep though of the situation. Then he looked toward the ceiling.

“God, give us the strength to put out this fire while it’s still small.”

“HHHYYYYYAAAAAA!!!!!!” shouted Aleu as she spun around, he leg in the air and her heal completely knocking off the wooden head of the training dummy! Rohn clapped his hands at her achievement.

“Well done! You’re a fast learner Miss Aleu! You’ve already established the basics of Martial Arts!” Aleu played off the comment. “Well Aleu, given the fact that you’ve fought off the undead before and survived with out prior training, I think we can move onto the next step.”

“And what might that be?” asked Aleu.

“Weapons Training.” smiled Rohn as he led the Wolf to another district. Aleu picked up a canteen of water on her way out and took a swig.

“Well I don’t mean to disappoint you but I already know how to shoot a gun.” Aleu replied. Rohn just smiled.

“Well you haven’t shot one of ours!” They soon came to the next door leading to a Weapons Training area. The entrance was like a lobby on a balcony. It over looked a massive open space, below were a number of Gun Ranges and even a replica town for realistic combat simulations! Aleu thought that she had seen everything and yet again was in awe of the scale of this organization. To either side of the lobby were two lifts of “Elevators” that took them down to the training areas. Rohn lead Aleu to the first Gun Range. It was about 60 or so yards long with adjustable target distances.

Rohn tapped on Aleu’s shoulder to get her attention and said; “Hold out you hand” Aleu obliged and Rohn gave her a huge revolver! The barrel had to be at least 10 inches long and the cylinder was 4! On the butt of the handle was a fixed blade; underneath the barrel was a removable tube like part.

“This is the Redeemer Revolver. For many a Regulator this has been their best friend. It’s out standard issue weapon and is almost ALWAYS carried on your person. Its 50 Caliber so be careful of its recoil.” Rohn warned. The pistol was heavy, very heavy actually. It was nothing like Aleu’s .45! She held the weapon up with both hands and took careful aim at a target. She cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. KA-POW!!! The gun’s blast was like thunder hitting Aleu right in the ears! She almost lost her balance but quickly stabilized herself. Then she looked at the wooden target, it was missing its head and part of its shoulder! And that was from a single bullet!

“This is you BASIC standard issue!!?! God, it’s like firing a damn CANNON!” Aleu shouted both in shock and amazement!

“You know you’ll have to learn to shoot one handed with that eventually.” Rohn replied.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” retorted Aleu. Rohn then pulled out his redeemer and barely took time to aim. POW, POW, POW, POW, POW, POW!!! Rohn “fanned” the revolver and decapitated multiple targets accurately in rapid succession! Aleu was practically slack jawed. Afterward the volley Rohn twirled the pistol and then holstered it. He then smiled and walked off to another part of the range.

“There is NO WAY your Human!!!” Aleu shouted!

“Well neither are you!” Rohn replied.
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Alright, here's Chapter 8!

Looks like its training day for Miss Aleu!