ManaGun - Stage 01

Stage 1-1

Excited was not a powerful enough word to describe Charlie's state of mind. Ecstatic felt a bit too weak as well. Every last single cell in her body felt like it was ready to explode into a myriad of fireworks that would spell out a congratulations message to her in the sky. She couldn't help it. She had been the only candidate out of nearly 200 applicants who had passed every test to become a member of the Borderless Universal Security Trust, the world's premier army for hire.

She was the only person not in an official uniform aboard the sky rail as it sped towards the floating castle town that served as the base of operations for the entire organization. She wouldn't have even been allowed on the train if it weren't for the special ID badge she'd been given by the proctor who'd told her she'd been accepted. She ran her fingers slowly over it as she practically vibrated in her seat.

"Coming in for your first day?" she heard a voice to her left say.

The owner of the voice was a very large werewolf, clothed only in a loose-fitting lab coat and the dorkiest pair of glasses she had ever seen in her life. He grinned down at her with a smile that held more teeth than should have been physically possible and under any other circumstances would have terrified her but the glasses just made it all comical. She just nodded her head to answer him, afraid that she would burst out laughing if she spoke.

"What department did you get accepted into?" he asked.

"I'm gonna be an Agent!" she squealed as quietly as she could to him.

The entire train car suddenly went dead silent and looked at her as if she'd just grown a second head. She looked around and gulped as her excitement died. Every possible thing she could have done wrong flashed through her mind at lightning speed. Was she not supposed to tell anybody? Had she gotten on the wrong train? Were they just expecting somebody else?

"Really? You, an Agent?" the werewolf asked disbelievingly.

"Yeeeaaahhh..." she answered nervously, "Did... did I get on the wrong train or something?"

"More like you got on the wrong job!" a voice called out from somewhere among the crowd.

Suddenly, the entire train burst into raucous laughter. Fingers pointed at her and some of the passengers spoke insults in voices that clearly compared her to a literal child. At five foot two, she may not have been the tallest woman in the world but at 22, she was certainly no child. Charlie bolted up from her seat, ready for a fight until she felt a large, furry hand on her shoulder. She hadn't expected to see a look of understanding on the werewolf's face.

"Don't let it get to you. They poke fun at all the rookies. It's just a little worse than normal because it's very... unusual to see someone like you as an Agent." he explained.

"You mean a woman?"Charlie asked, irritated.

"He means a skinny woman!" that same voice from earlier shouted out, followed by more laughter from the rest of the passengers.

She grit her teeth and glared out in the crowd but that did nothing to deter the laughter. She grumbled aloud and turned back to the werewolf, who chuckled but didn't seem to be mocking her like the others were.

"Most Agents are built like wrestlers, all muscles. You are built more for running than wrestling." the werewolf said in a friendly manner.

On that much, at least, she could readily agree. Charlie had spent her teenage years running letters and packages for her aunt and uncle's delivery service, which had left her with a lean, athletic physique that was completely hidden by the baggy, hand-me-down clothes she wore. It took nearly 30 minutes of hard running before she would even begin to breathe heavily, which had been one of the two things that had helped her pass the obstacle course that got her the job in the first place.

"Not sure why muscles matter when you're fighting the enemy with a gun." she grumbled as she sat back down next to werewolf.

"Recoil." he answered with another goofy, too-toothy grin that made her laugh.

"Maybe if you get a shotgun, you can point it straight down in mid-air to double jump!" a new voice joked.

"That's rocket launchers, you dweeb!" she shouted at them.

The entire train car exploded into a new round of laughter, even louder than before, but this time none of it was aimed at her. People pointed into the crowd and mocked the person who'd tried to mock her. The entire atmosphere had gone juvenile almost instantly, like she'd somehow gone back to school. She couldn't help but groan and shake her head.

"Might I ask you a question?" the werewolf asked suddenly.

"Sure, go ahead." she said with a sigh.

"Why is your hair blue?" he wondered.

"...hair dye." she said after she got over her shock that he hadn't thought of that himself.

The train screeched as it came to a stop and Charlie couldn't wait to get off. She grabbed the one suitcase she had with the few meager belongings she had been able to bring with her from home. She couldn't get off the train fast enough and practically bolted out the doors the second they slid open.

The B.U.S.T. receiving station bustled with activity, with more people of more species than she'd ever thought she'd see in her life. There were werewolves, vampires, furries of practically every animal you could think of, and even a few oddly attractive mummies. Having come from a seaside town with only the occasional merperson attack to add non-humans to their population, Charlie felt overwhelmed.

She tried her best not to look as lost as she felt and powered her way towards the marked exit. She'd worry about figuring out where to go once she didn't feel so crowded. It took a few minutes to cross the ocean of bodies but she managed to make it to the double doors that led outside. The relief she felt only lasted a moment.

"Hey, are you supposed to be here?" a firm, feminine voice asked as a firm grip grabbed her shoulder.

She turned slowly to the person that had grabbed her shoulder and came face-to-face with a seven foot tall, incredibly muscular shark furry woman. She felt her mouth go dry but wasn't sure if it was from fear or the sudden realizations she may or may not have had about herself. The no-nonsense look the shark woman gave Charlie made sense with the uniform and security badge she wore.

Charlie didn't trust herself not to say something stupid, so she just reached into her suitcase and pulled out the letter of introduction her proctor had written. The security shark took the letter and read it over silently. Charlie suddenly felt extremely nervous for the first time since she'd gotten on the train back home.

"An Agent, huh?" the shark lady said with a shrill whistle, "Not bad."

She gave Charlie another toothy smile as she handed the letter back. Charlie stuffed it back in her suitcase and hoped she wasn't blushing. Luckily for her, the attractive shark woman paid it no mind as she pointed to a large, unlit castle tower.

"That's where you need to go, rookie. Just take your letter to the little shrimp at the front desk and they'll let you onto the elevator. I'm sure somebody else will help you once you're there." she explained.

"Oh, um... thanks!" Charlie said in a little squeak as she stared at the shark woman.

"You should probably get going." she said to Charlie after a few moments.

"Oh, right right! Thanks again and it was nice meeting you!" Charlie said as she rushed away with burning cheeks.

Stage 1-2

The inside of the tower was nothing like Charlie had expected. It was plainly lit with two long bar-shaped mana lights, covered from ceiling to floor with cobblestone and had only a single other door at the very end of the room. There were small potted plants in each corner of the long room and a desk with a very short, black haired man seated behind it. There was a nameplate atop the desk that read Julian and next to it, a stack of papers that towered over him.

"Are you supposed to be here?" he asked without even looking her way as he scribbled on a piece of paper in front of him.

"That's what my letter says." she answered, already tired of being asked that question as she fished the letter of introduction out of her suitcase.

She held the letter out to him once she had found where it had shifted to and stood there awkwardly as Julian ignored it in favor of the paper he was currently working on. She managed to be patient for just under two minutes before she cleared her throat and shook the paper to get his attention.

"Two minutes. Not bad." he said in a deadpan voice before he tapped his desk, "Put it on my desk and I'll fish you out a temporary badge."

"Wait, was this a test?" Charlie asked as she placed the letter down.

"No, I was just bored so I decided to see how long you'd be patient and just stand there like an idiot." he answered as he opened a drawer and tossed a small, blank metal badge at her.

She hadn't expected him to throw it and felt the world slow down as it came close to her face. Her heart raced for just a moment as she reached out and caught it, then went back to normal along with her perception of time. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and looked at the object she held.

It was a thin, bronze, heart-shaped medal that had a thick upside-down Y with three lines engraved into it behind the main body. The front of the badge was oddly blank, like something was supposed to be there but hadn't been put on yet. She turned it around to look at the back and saw a small pin that stuck out.

"That's a guest badge. One time use only. Go through the door, stick it in the obvious hole and wait until the doors open again. Somebody down there should know who you are." he explained as he returned to his scribbling.

"Thanks." she growled sarcastically as she walked away from the annoying little man towards the only door he could have meant.

She nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise when the door opened all on its own when she got near it. Julian loudly snickered behind her but she refused to give him the satisfaction of even her glare, so she walked through the doors and tried not to flinch when they automatically closed. The door had led her to a very small room, barely big enough to hold seven people if they all squished together and she looked around for the supposedly obvious hole Julian had mentioned.

She found two indents on the wall to her left. One of them was a rectangular shape but the other one seemed like the badge she'd been given would fit perfectly in it. She shrugged and placed the temporary badge in the hole. The entire room jostled like it had been hit by a miniature earthquake and she suddenly felt a sensation of movement. It took a few moments for the dots in her head to connect.

"This is an elevator!" she shouted excitedly.

The seaside town she'd grown up in had never had a building taller than two stories and the overabundance of humans meant that none of them could spare the mana required to power such a device that most people would never use. There were houses and businesses that used hand-cranked dumbwaiters but that was the closest she had ever gotten.

"Oh, this is cool! I wish there was a window in here so I could watch it move." Charlie whispered out loud with giddy glee.

The ride down lasted only about a minute and, after a brief wait in the still elevator, the badge she'd been given popped out of the indent she'd placed it in and the door opened. She grabbed the badge and stepped out into the unexpected sight of an enormous open room. There was a second and even a third story that was connected by stairs, ramps and walkways. The ceiling was still made of the cobblestone of the tower she had first entered but everything else either made out of or at least coated with metal.

People shuffled about all around her. Some wore white lab coats over ordinary clothing but most wore the official uniform of B.U.S.T. Agents; a long, dark blue overcoat with the full name and symbol of the Borderless Universal Security Trust, worn over a black armored vest. There didn't seem to be any regulation on legwear so most people she would see just wore long jeans or slacks.

Most of the Agents seemed to be human but she saw more than a few furries of various species in uniform. She was certain that some of the human-looking Agents were actually vampires but she'd have to get a much closer look to be certain. She started to walk forward to try and find out what she was supposed to do next, when yet another hand came down upon her shoulder. Her left eye twitched as she heard the next line practically before it was said.

"Are you supposed to be here?" a woman's voice said from behind.

"Yes! Yes I am!" she said almost manically as she held up her guest badge and turned around to face her newest accuser.

"Oh! You must be the perk girl!"

The over-excited, older-looking woman was not at all the kind of person she had expected to see at the B.U.S.T. The messy white lab coat draped loose-fitting, wrinkled clothing spoke to a mad scientist, or at least a workaholic. Her hair was frizzy and had clearly been burned in several places, yet she wore the biggest smile Charlie could ever recall seeing on anybody's face. Charlie took a deep breath to calm herself and held out her hand.

"Charlotte Trigger. I usually go by Charlie, though." she told the woman in the most professional tone she could muster.

"Yes, yes. Funny name and all but come on! Let's get to my lab so I can take some measurements while you tell me everything." the woman insisted as she grabbed Charlie's free hand and dragged her along so quickly that Charlie almost tripped.

"Wait, I'm supposed to be reporting for assignment!" Charlie shouted out as she was dragged at a nearly inhuman speed through the throngs of people.

"I'll take care of all that! Just keep up, perk girl!"

"My name is Charlie!"

That was the last word she managed to get out as several people around them laughed loudly at her situation. She felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment as she was dragged along like a school kid late for her first day. This was the last thing she expected to have happen to her on her first day on the job.

Charlie was led by the eccentric woman to an enclosed dome with a nameplate above the door that read Gadarina Zuccarini: Head of R&D. She gulped as the twin doors slid open automatically before them and she was dragged into a laboratory filled with a hodge podge of machinery and practically thrown onto a padded stool.

"Are you... Gadarina Zuccarini?" Charlie asked her nervously as the woman ran back and forth in the lab in search of something.

"All the Agents call me Gadzook, but yeah. That's me." she replied as she pulled out an odd helmet-like device, "Now from what I've been told, you managed to use a perk during the obstacle course portion of your examination. The Adrenaline perk to be specific."

"What's a perk?" Charlie asked as the helmet was placed atop her head.

"Oh, right... a civilian wouldn't be aware of perks. Well in simple terms, a perk is a temporary superpower that is fueled by a person's innate mana supply and triggered by various external stimuli. Normally, perks have to be grafted onto a person using mystic items but somehow you seem to have one completely naturally." Gadzook explained as she grabbed several wires from another pile and attached them to the helmet.

"How are you so sure that I have a perk then? I don't remember doing anything with a superpower." Charlie wondered as she watched Gadzook hook her up to the strange contraption on her head.

"We were measuring all the applicants during the obstacle course, using the gun and the safety glasses you were required to wear. You registered a slightly above average mana reading during most of the exam but had a huge spike during one particular part! The part we specifically designed to be impossible to get through without taking a hit!" Gadzook practically squealed out in delight as she ran around Charlie doing various tasks.

"What part was that?" Charlie asked as she tried to wrack her brain to remember.

"The part where we released nearly 100 attacks on you in rapid succession!" Gadzook shrieked with the energy of a girl a third her age, "That part was designed to test courage and decision making abilities, not reflexes. Most applicants either do the smart thing and go for cover, which we made sure wouldn't be enough, or try to power through and take hits while attacking targets.But you...!"

Charlie gasped when the older woman suddenly swung a colorful, one-handed mallet at her head. She barely registered that the machine beeped loudly as time seemed to slow down. She reached out and grabbed the woman's wrist before the mallet could impact her face. Her heart hammered in her chest and the machine's beeping grew to a loud, shrill whistle as everything around her sped back up to normal.

"HA! I knew it was Adrenaline!" Gadzook shouted triumphantly as she pulled her hand free and walked over towards a machine that printed some sort of read out.

"Why did you attack me?!" Charlie shouted as she tore the helmet device from her head and stood up.

"I just felt like it would be easier to show you than tell you. Besides, the mallet's harmless. It's just a fun toy I picked up a while back." Gadzook explained as she held up the sheet with the printed data to Charlie, "So did you realize it that time? How your reflexes sped up the moment your brain registered that it was in immediate danger?"

"I... guess? Is that really a perk though? Isn't that what everyone's brains do when they're in trouble?" Charlie answered, unsure if she could really trust the strange woman any further.

"Perceiving time as slowing down? Yes. Actually being able to move at speeds comparable to that perceived time? Absolutely not. During that test, you shot and reloaded the gun you were given for it technically faster than should have been humanly possible. That allowed you to shoot down every attack that would have hit you while you were glued to one spot." Gadzook said as she tossed the mallet away.

It squeaked as it hit the wall, which at least confirmed that Gadarina had told her the truth about it. Charlie kept her eye on the older woman as she resumed her mad scramble through the disaster area she called a lab. She couldn't really tell what she was supposed to be doing, so she just stood there awkwardly until the older woman's attention returned to her.

"Oh, right! Duh! Your equipment! Come on!" Gadzook suddenly shouted before she grabbed Charlie's arm and dragged her away again.

Charlie ran as hard as she could this time, determined not to simply get dragged around by the madwoman as they exited the messy lab and charged towards where the B.U.S.T. 's Head of R&D decided they needed to be next.

Stage 1-3

Charlie stepped out of the changing room and she felt completely awesome fully dressed in the official uniform that she'd been issued. She had been delighted to discover that the overcoat had pockets on the inside and opted to keep it open so she had easier access to them and not because she wanted to look awesome whenever there was a breeze. She had to get a new pair of pants, since the hand-me-downs she arrived in had been deemed unsuitable for duty, and her legs were now clad in bright red jeans. The holster for the gun she would be issued later was fastened to her upper right thigh.

"Looking sharp, rookie. Gotta admit, the pants oddly work." an unknown male said as she returned to where she'd left Gadzook.

He was a dark-skinned male human, about 6 foot even in height. He wore an Agent's uniform as well, though he had his overcoat closed. She could barely see that his pants were a blue camouflage pattern and he wore black combat boots. A gold badge with almost the design as the one she'd used for the elevator was pinned on his coat over his heart. It had a name etched on it, Marcus King.