“Now you don’t need a lot, just a drop or two is enough. Too much and things get all gummy.”

Sunset followed along with the bubbly, pink haired woman’s demonstration of applying oil to the cotton mop and started lubricating. She repeated the action on the one in front of her, trying to ignore the unpleasant grime building up not only on her hands but places she wasn’t even sure how it could have gotten to. This was just the latest in a line of tasks Rupert had given her over the past few days; sweeping up the range, doing the infirmary’s laundry, helping Twilight re-label and catalogue samples…

In other words: Busy work.

She didn’t much appreciate what she saw as little more than pity and just more delay on her progress, but she did take solace in the fact they hadn’t just dismissed her outright. And at least this busy work was something she could get somewhat invested in. She had already looked a good deal into the operation, mechanics and even a little into the history of firearms, but getting the chance to take one apart was another thing entirely. It just made more sense; they were tools. Tools with deadly purpose yes, but still just contraptions built by learned standards and practiced principles.

Also in other words: They were something she could replicate when the time came.

She smiled, the swishing of the prickly, corkscrew shaped brush filling the empty space. This assignment also gave her the opportunity to ask questions, and unlike many of her attempts with the others, Pinkie was more than happy to talk at length about the topic… and anything else that popped into her head. After a few more pistols, Pinkie moved on to show her how to properly clean a shotgun. Then they moved on to the rifles. Before long however, the novelty began to wear off and Sunset realized that while there were many different mechanisms, the basic principles were the same. All things she’d log in the journal of course but it wasn’t quite as thrilling as she’d hoped it would be. Granted, maybe she simply didn’t know enough yet to get as invested in the minutia but at the end of it all, she was still just doing more busy work.

“You stopped asking questions,” Pinkie pointed out cheerfully. Sunset snapped out of her trance.

“Oh, sorry. This is interesting, really. It’s just...” she started before shrugging “After all I looked up and especially with how Rainbow tells it, I guess this just isn’t as… engaging as I thought it’d be.”

“Well DUH! Cleaning guns isn’t the fun part! Shooting them is!” Pinkie exclaimed before gasping “You’ve never shot a gun, have you!?”

“Not that I can remember” Sunset returned simply before being ripped to her feet.

“Well we gotta fix that!” Pinkie beamed before grabbing a duffle and darting to the ammo shelves “I mean we got a few more guns to clean anyway, so we might as well put a few rounds through ‘em first, right? Go down to the range! I’ll meet you there!”

Before Sunset could even think of considering a response, she found herself already standing in the hallway. Shrugging, she made her way to the lower level. It took a little longer than she would have liked; even with Fluttershy and now Rainbow helping with her physical therapy, stairs were still a little tricky. Before too long though, she came upon the large window to the range to see the assistant rangemaster setting up the systems. The former pony girl blinked and double took between the girl and stairs behind her.

“Wait, but- ...What?”

“AJ! DASHIE!” Pinkie poked her head out and shouted down the hallway “SUNNY’S GONNA SHOOT HER FIRST GUN!”

The rapid patter of jogging steps quickly echoed from the garage and the rainbow haired mechanic appeared from around the corner a moment later.

“Oh I gotta see this!” she smiled before a chuckle came from the break room, the blonde hunter stolling out more casually behind her. Dash stopped and smirked at the teen “Popp’n your cherry huh?”

“My what?-EEP!” Sunset gave a surprised yelp as a hand snagged her arm and whisked her into the long, reinforced room. A pair of broad glasses appeared perched on her nose and heavy plastic earmuffs were stuffed onto her head before she was spun around. A simple bull’s eye target hung a short distance beyond the small shelf in front of her. A hand passed her peripheral to twist a small dial on the noise blockers and a subtle hiss filled the silence. Pinkie's voice came through the heavy headphones with an odd, filtered echo.

“Okie Dokie! Safety’s on the side here, keep that on until you’re ready, finger off the trigger until you’re about to shoot, always keep the gun down range, pretty sure I don’t have to tell you not to point it at anyone, always be aware of what's around and beyond your target and never forget that the gun is always considered loaded even when it isn’t!” the woman rattled off without taking a breath “Okay so what we got here is the good ol’ standard issue Beretta M9. It’s a little bulky in the grip but we can get a nice feather pull on the trigger when cocked so you're not struggling and it has a nice big tang so you won’t catch yourself on the slide. Trust me, if you do that once you ain’t ever gonna do it again. But here you go, again keep that barrel down range.”

Pinkie placed the pistol in her hands, proving that the grip was indeed a little bulky. She looked back toward the target when a finger suddenly flicked her own.

“OW!”

“What I’d just say?” she scolded firmly, even if still with a smile “Trigger discipline!”

“Okay, I get it!” she returned, promoting a giggle from the excitable instructor. She looked down to the magazines on the shelf in front of them. There was one already in the gun but the fiery haired girl still looked questioningly to Pinkie, who returned an encouraging nod.

“Good, now pull back the slide. Now take aim- no like this,” Pinkie angled Sunset’s shoulders for her, leaving her primary arm straight with the other hand cradling the gun. She then placed a leg between Sunset’s and spread out her stance. She then hummed lightly and, after a moment of thought, simply pressed against the girl and added her grip hers to steady the weapon. Their ear protection clacked together lightly as their embrace shifted Sunset’s posture. Pinkie lifted a thumb over the teen’s and clicked off the safety “Okay safety’s off, so we’ll just pull back the hammer. Now you can lightly rest your finger on the trigger, line up those three little dots on the sights, and slowly squeeeeeze-”

*BANG*

Sunset jumped more than the gun in her hand; Only the instructor pressed against her had kept her in place. She didn’t so much hear the shot as feel it, the sound cutting out in her earphones for the brief instant. She stared at the small hole that now rested in the upper corner of the large sheet, well outside the series of circles.

“Hey! You actually hit it!” Pinkie cheered “Here, hold on a sec.”

Pinkie clicked the safety back up and guided the gun down to the shelf, barrel aimed at an angle out of the lane. She dashed out to the target, leaving Sunest alone for a second.

Her whole body was tense, save for her lightly trembling hands. She had watched the others shoot and had seen plenty of guides and demonstrations online, so she thought she knew what to expect. She didn’t anticipate it being so… violent though. Simply put, it scared the shit out of her. Yet, if she was honest, it also left her rather exhilarated.

She glanced back to the observing window to see a thoroughly amused pair grinning back. Despite seeming like they were giggling at her expense, Dash still flashed her two excited thumbs up and Applejack tilted her hat. She guessed thumbs up were a good thing from the couple times she’d seen it so far. Sunset returned a shaky smile before Pinkie bounded back to her side, stuffing a marker into her cotton candy curls.

A small red circle now surrounded the hole with “Sunny’s first shot” written just above.

“Just so we don’t lose track of it” the poofy haired woman winked at her and resumed her guiding position through the rest of the magazine. With each shot, Sunset grew more used to the feeling and even managed to improve her aim… slightly. As the final round and another small hole joined the others along the outer circle’s rim, the slide locked back and Pinkie’s supportive stance turned into a quick, if slightly awkward hug. With a practiced ease, the range master flicked the safety, releasing the slide and placed the gun back on the shelf before turning back to the duffle behind them.

Sunset looked back to her audience again. AppleJack gave her a smile before she tilted her head and mouthed ‘first mag!’ Dash meanwhile actually looked very mildly impressed as she nodded slightly; It was the kind of look somepony gets when a filly manages to not fall off their bike on the first try. She muttered something to her fellow viewer, lips spelling ‘Not terrible for a total…’

‘Newb?’ Sunset tried to decipher the last word but then Pinkie was in front of her again, turning her back toward the target. She handed the magazine to Sunset but stayed a step away this time, smiling patiently.

‘I’ll show you once, then watch.’

The words of her last teacher echoed through her mind. She rather appreciated that Pinkie trusted her not to screw up after just one magazine, especially considering how things could go wrong. She nodded and picked the pistol back up, sliding the magazine in the receiver… before it almost slid out again. She pushed again without much success.

“Pull it back out and slam it in hard” Pinkie offered. Out of the corner of her eye Sunset could see Dash snickering on the other side of the glass. Ignoring it, she arched an eyebrow at Pinkie “Just because you have to be careful doesn’t mean you have to be gentle. These things use tiny explosions to throw metal rocks; they’re built to stay together.”

She let the mag slide mostly out before trying again more forcefully, a solid click being her reward. A small smile tugged the corner of her lip as she looked at the instructor.

“Explosions to throw metal rocks?” she chuckled.

“Deceptively simple, isn’t it?” an even brighter smile appeared beneath the poofy mane before she tilted her head toward the range. Sunset turned her attention back to her target and raised her aim, then hesitated at a thought. She pulled the slide back so she could actually shoot, a quick glance letting her see Pinkie’s approving look. She clicked the safety and, with her finger off the trigger until she was ready, began her first solo shoot. Her aim was notably harder to maintain without Pinkie’s support, and it showed. Yet she couldn’t deny what the rangemaster told her before; Shooting the guns was definitely the fun part.

She finished the magazine and set the pistol back down, mindful to click the safety. Pinkie gave her another quick hug before setting the box of ammo down and wagging her eyebrows at her before turning back to the duffle. Her attention was diverted as their audience was now entering the range with eye and ear protection of their own and shoulder holsters to bear. Pinkie smiled before trotting behind her little booth and lowered a pair of targets in the lanes on either side of Sunset’s. The teen didn’t mind the brief delay of her lesson; she was still struggling a bit getting the last few rounds in the magazine. She was struck once again by how easy things looked in the videos.

“It gets easier,” Pinkie assured her as she slid back to Sunset’s side. She set another pistol down, a simple looking revolver. “Maybe should have started you with this but learning about safeties is pretty important so whatever. Anyway, this is a simple Smith and Wesson 357; we’ll just be using .38 Special for now though. There’s no safety, so keep trigger discipline even more in mind. Also, like the M9, it’s got a feather trigger when it’s cocked so even, even more...”

“Trigger discipline” Sunset finished, trying not to flinch too much at the other girls’ shots now ringing out on either side of her. Pinkie either didn’t seem to notice or didn’t judge. Sunset lifted the revolver, attempting to adjust to the weight and balance before aiming. The recoil was better but her aim was a little worse if anything, the longer barrel and heft throwing her off compared to before. Six shots and she was reloading on her own. 12 more and Pinkie was long done loading a trio of new magazines. The bubbly woman smiled and loaded a single round into the revolver before handing it back to her, grinning brightly

“Hold on tight.”

*BOOM*

That wasn’t a 38.

“Magnum?” Sunset only distantly heard Dash ask, her hands still up and eyes still wide. The other two shooters were peaking around the dividers, the much deeper shot having piqued their curiosity. Pinkie giggled and shrugged.

“Figured I’d give her a treat” she winked again at the former pony. Sunset gave a shaky smile back.

“Here Sunny, try this out” Dash waved her over. Rainbow’s ‘Glock’ was significantly lighter than the beretta and revolver, easier to hold too. The targets switched lanes before she could take aim, Pinkie waving at her from the control panel. It was a bit better to shoot if a little harder to control. It didn’t help her aim. AJ ambled over and let Sunset try her ‘1911 variant’ out too. She warned her it would have a kick and she wasn’t lying. It wasn’t quite the magnum Pinkie sprung on her but her wrist was still protesting. She didn’t even hit the target a few times.

“Don’t worry there none Sugercube” AppleJack patted her shoulder “Yer actually do’n pretty good fer a first timer.”

The teen shrugged half heartedly, glancing at the other two targets. No shots were outside the middle rings, let alone the outer ones. She was sure she wasn’t going to convince Rupert to take her seriously with a lack of skill compared to that, first time or not. Their targets switched back to their original lanes, Dash giving her an encouraging smirk before getting back to her own practice.

“Last one for today Sunny” Pinkie prepared a new pistol Sunset hadn’t seen, even while cleaning earlier. She pushed away the minor irritation that it appeared ‘Sunny’ was going to stick, and took in the firearm. The design was different then the other semi-autos she had tried so far and that was without the box attached under its barrel. The barrel also protruded from the front a bit and looked to be threaded like a screw. Pinkie clicked the end of a wire connected to the grip and a small red dot lit up above the box’s lens “Here. It’s not loaded. Just try to keep it steady on the bullseye as well as you can.”

She couldn’t. The dot wasn’t a dot for even a moment in her grasp, just a spastic line squigling around the middle rings.

“Yeah, didn’t think so. But hey, something to work up to huh?” Pinkie offered as she took the gun back, clicking the pointer off and loading it for her newest student “Sights are better anyway. Lasers are more for quick shots and you won’t be at that level for a while yet. We’ll empty these three I loaded and get back to cleaning.”

Sunset took aim and started. It wasn’t quite night and day, but this was easily the best feel of everything so far. She kept it under control better and even landed shots in the middle circles with some consistency. By the last magazine she had even scored a few glancing the bullseye. She turned to smile proudly back at Pinkie only to see the other two girls looking at her incredulously as well. She hadn’t even noticed they stopped to watch her.

“Huh,” Dash smiled with an arched brow. “Guess we found a fit.”

“Ain’t that one of Aya’s?” AJ asked.

“It was due for maintenance anyway, so I figured she wouldn’t mind,” the rangemaster shrugged, “It’s just one of her backups after all.”

‘Aya’s, huh?’ Sunset looked back down to the weapon in her hands with a slight reverence. This was something her new goal used, and now it was what she was best with; Limited reference of comparison notwithstanding. She couldn’t yet learn from the still absent hunter but if this gun was Aya’s, even if just a backup, then she couldn’t believe her increased competence with it was just a coincidence. Human’s may not believe in magic but this kind of connection did mean something to her. ‘I’ll have to see if she has any other backups I can try...’

“Think it’s a mitochondria thing?” Dash asked, bringing Sunset back to the moment. The colorfully haired woman was studying Sunset’s target as Pinkie called them forward for collection. She pulled her earphones off and continued “The 229’s a nice gun sure, but it’s not that much of a difference…”

“Like ya’ said, maybe it’s just a good fit.” The blonde Hunter offered before draping an arm around their newest NMH “That or Sunny ‘eres just a natural. Ah mean Ah don’t feel nothin’ when I use any of Aya’s guns.”

“Could always ask Twilight” Pinkie offered “Though she might rope you inta buncha experiments to test it if you do.”

“Hmmm” Dash’s expression grew truly conflicted, prompting some hearty laughs from Pinkie and AJ. With a giggle of her own, Dash relented “Well, we should probably tell her anyway.”

After washing up, the pair bid adieu to the hunter and mechanic as they went back to their own machinations. Sunset followed Pinkie back to the armory to help clean the newly dirtied firearms. It was as unexciting as it had been, but she wasn’t quite as bored as before. The residual adrenaline and fresh experience made keeping her spirits up a bit easier. Pinkie even let her clean Aya’s P229 while divulging her seemingly near encyclopedic knowledge on it.

When they finished and had put everything else away, Pinkie took Aya’s pistol and moved to a large locker. Sunset followed behind and saw a simple label next to the lock Pinkie was now searching a large keyring for: “Aya”.

“She gets her own big locker?” Sunset asked “Isn’t the reinforced room with bullet proof glass in a police station full of monster hunters enough?”

“Aya’s a pretty big deal Sunny. Though it’s mostly an organization and insurance thing really. Most of the stuff in here is Aya’s; as in it’s owned by her personally and not MIST issued equipment. The other lockers have the other hunter’s gear but Aya has a bit of a collection and Evie doesn’t like too many being at home, so she keeps most of her stuff here.” Pinkie explained before finally finding the key and popping open the locker. She grabbed what Sunset understood as a suppressor and screwed it onto the pistol, explaining the threading the former pony noted before “Well, except her sword.”

“Wait, her what?” The teenager did a double take. Pinkie beamed mischievously.

“Oh no, I’m not ruining that surprise!”

The next day Sunset was sweeping up the cases on the range. However, she wasn’t bothered at all by this busy work. Not today! Not only because she got to shoot again and a third of the cases were hers, or even because she didn’t have to do it alone this time. It was because the sooner she finished, the sooner she could get to what they were doing next!

True to Pinkie’s prediction, Twilight was positively fascinated by the possibility that Aya’s mitochondria could somehow be influencing Sunset’s competence with her pistol and insisted it be tested as soon as possible. One, to avoid any natural increase in Sunset’s aim clouding the data and two, because she simply couldn’t wait any longer to finally test Sunset’s abilities- ALL of her abilities.

That’s right, Sunset was finally being allowed to test her powers! She could hardly wait any longer herself.

But Rupert was there, and as much as she wanted to rush, she wanted to show him she didn’t half-ass things more. The better the impression she made here, the better her chances that he wouldn’t dismiss her again. She had already improved her marksmanship a little since the day before; she could tell since Pinkie had hung her first target up with the other hunters’ on the wall behind the control booth. It was still laughable compared to the rest, particularly one she understood was Rupert’s best results (Marked 50m without a single hole outside the center ring!), but it was still better than the day before... if only by a smidgen…

‘Stop that’ she shook the unhelpful thoughts away and tried to focus on finishing the task before her ‘It’s not about how skilled I am now but how great my potential is. Skill comes with practice and instruction; Talent is what matters today.’

As soon as she and Pinkie were done, Twilight sent Sunset off to wash up. Not just making sure the gsr was off her hands, but a full shower. While it was extremely uncommon for mitochondrial abilities to ignite the residue, Twilight didn’t want to take any chances on Sunset’s first attempt. Thankfully MIST had its own locker rooms, showers included, so she didn’t have to go all the way back to Fluttershy and Dash’s place.

Soon enough Sunset was back in the range with an also freshly bathed Applejack, standing beyond the shelves in the center of the reinforced space. Everyone else was gathered on the other side of the safety glass. Sunset tried not to think too hard about why Fluttershy had a medical kit at the ready or why AJ had not one but three injector-pens of suppressant on her belt. She also tried not to think about the fact the Hunter was still armed, her gun ready and loaded in its holster.

Yes, she Tried not to think about it.

“Don’t worry Sunset” Twilight’s voice came through the window’s intercom “We’re not expecting anything to go wrong. It’s just standard procedure.”

With that not entirely reassuring assurance, the doctor nodded to Applejack.

“Alright then Sugarcube, while normally we’d have Aya doin’ this, Ah reckon Ah can still coax a rise outta ya” the cowgirl declared and took her place behind the redhead now facing the few targets at the other end. They had no idea what kind of ability Sunset might show today, if any, but some powers came easier with a target.

There were, as Twilight tried to explain simply, different branches of mitochondrial abilities. The ‘simply’ part quickly fell away however, as she almost immediately dove into concepts of meta-physics, energy manipulation and the conversion of matter. Interestingly enough, they had some curious parallels to Sunset’s studies of magic, though some of the actual science the doctor got into was enough to make the former pony’s head spin. Dash then told her they were like the basic elements: Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. It seemed to aggravate Twilight quite a bit.

It also made a lot more sense, further to the scientist’s chagrin.

AJ’s hand landed on Sunset’s shoulder, bringing her back to the task. They had gone over what was going to happen several times: Applejack was to try to create a connection between her own and Sunset’s mitochondria to stimulate a response. There was little question of whether AJ could actually take any kind of control to guide them as Aya had done with the other NMH hunters, not with Sunset being an awakened, but hopefully the mitochondria itself would be able to help her figure it out from there.

A flash of warmth and energy filled her as the cowgirl’s mitochondria called out to hers, receiving quite the answer indeed. Just warmth thankfully, and not heat. If there was one constant Sunset had figured out pretty quick, it was that if someone started burning up when Neo-Mitochondria was involved, then things were about to get bad.

“We all good back there?” AJ looked back to the small crowd to insure that bad wasn’t happening.

“No hot flashes here!” Pinkie cheered while Dash gave a thumbs up. Twilight looked to Rupert who, while still stone faced, nevertheless nodded for them to continue.

Sunset smiled and looked back to the targets before closing her eyes. She rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she adjusted to the invigorating energy coursing through her. It reminded her of the first time she cast a master level spell, though that had lacked the tingling of something moving through her veins. That thought also reminded her that she had to pay special attention to keep her magic in check: she wouldn’t learn anything if she just ended up casting a spell instead of actually doing what they came here to do.

“You feel that, yes?” Twilight turned to quietly ask the medic behind her, who nodded with a slightly worried frown. She turned to Rupert “It’s that extra layer again, the one we haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause of. Don’t worry, she seems to have a handle on it. It’s receding some.”

Unaware of the exchange, Sunset finally suppressed her magic enough to not have to worry about it. She grimaced slightly at the slight increase in warmth as she did so, but promptly forgot the concern as she felt something shift. It wasn’t a bad shift; on the contrary, it was just what they were hoping for. Applejack’s grip tightened a bit as the redhead in her grasp raised a hand, guiding a build up of heat to her palm.

Sunset’s eyes snapped open and an aura of red and gold flashed about her form before a ball of flame flared into existence and surged forth, incinerating one of the targets.

“Woo doggy! That was a might bit more than I expected!” AJ stepped back and fanned herself with her hat “Guess Ah did alright then.”

Meanwhile, the spectators were forced to take a step back when their resident egghead began hopping excitedly as she spun inplace.

“OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh-Oh-my-Gosh! PYROKINESIS!” she finally stopped jumping and positively beamed back through the window “There hasn’t been an NMH with a natural affinity for that since Aya! Oh this is incredible!”

She continued smiling at the panting teen with her arm still raised until the girl in question’s expression dropped. A small chill ran through the woman as Sunset’s head tilted and turned about curiously, as if trying to hear something.

“Sunset what’s wrong?” she immediately asked through the intercom with no lack of seriousness.

“O-oh, nothing. It’s nothing.” The former pony tried to wave off but they didn’t seem to be buying it.

“Seriously Sunny, what’dya hear?” AJ asked calmly, arms crossed as she studied the girl carefully.

“It was… it was just- I don’t want to say wind” Sunset struggled, trying to think of how to describe the noise “A hiss? Sort of?”

“Not a voice?” Twilight asked cautiously. Sunset shook her head, prompting everyone to finally release an unconsciously held breath. “Ok, good. That’s very good.”

“So hearing voices would be bad, like even worse than normally hearing voices bad?” The girl at the center of it all asked nervously.

“Yer bugs start talking to ya, like actually talking to ya, then yeah; That would be bad. As in evolvin’ inta an EVE bad.” AJ leveled with the girl before giving her a comforting pat on the arm “But the occasional hiss’n or growl’n ain’t too big a’ deal.”

“Well there wasn’t any growling, and the hiss wasn’t even… I’m not sure how to explain it. It was like… like-”

“Like the Echo of a Whisper?” Fluttershy’s voice politely interrupted.

“Well- um... Yeah, actually” The former pony was about to point out that if a whisper is loud enough to cause an echo, then it wasn’t a whisper. But then she realized the sentiment just struck true. “That’s a pretty good way to put it. Let me guess, Aya again?”

“Her sister, actually,” the nurse giggled. Aya might be kind of a big deal in MIST, but she wasn’t the end-all, be-all to everything.

“Well now, with that little scare out of the way, I think we’re good to continue” Twilight brought them all back to the task “Do you think you can do that again?”

Twilight did her best to contain her giddiness as she sat in Rupert’s office while she, Cadence and the director waited for her brother. Even after nearly an hour of testing Sunset’s pyrokinetic affinity, followed by another hour with her in the lab, Twilight was still almost bursting at the seams with excitement. As she told them before, no NMH since Aya had a natural affinity for the ‘fire element’ as she begrudgingly tolerated it being called. Even then, Aya had a natural talent for virtually all the branches of Mitochondrial abilities. The chance to observe a more singular focus and the actual development of it, which she had been too late to observe in the veteran hunter, was quite the opportunity.

‘If she’s allowed to develop it, that is…’ Twilight’s exuberant mood dropped at the thought. To say Rupert was resisting the idea would be like saying Twilight was ‘only kind of smart’. She couldn’t dwell long though as a knock came to the door, followed by her brother joining them.

“Sorry about the wait” he offered before taking a seat “So Sunset can make fire huh?”

“It would seem so” the director replied in a grumble “And now your sister wants to throw gasoline on it.”

“Now Rupert, that’s not fair” Cadence cut in with a frown “Twilight knows as well as any of us how dangerous blindly rushing forward can be. She wouldn’t have suggested further training if there was any serious risk.”

“There’s always a risk” Rupert countered, prompting another in turn from the MIST scientist.

“Sunset was stable throughout the tests. The only hiccup was the single auditory response which all of us still get occasionally.” Twilight argued “And frankly her level of control is astonishing for a new NMH, let alone for pyromancy. Even I had more trouble getting started than she did! We can’t just let this chance pass us by, who knows when or even if we’ll get another one.”

“What about that girl from the LA office?” Shining offered “Petra of whatever. Isn’t she trying to learn fire stuff?”

“Pyrrha. And yes she is, but she’s naturally inclined toward the ‘Earth’ branches.” Twilight pointed out, finger quotes and all “She’s already learned how to use her mitochondria quite effectively in that branch and will no doubt have a notably different development than Sunset thanks to that experience. Not to discount what she’s doing of course, but it’s not the same.”

“Besides, she’s just transferred to the Manhattan office.” Rupert added with a sigh. He had actually tried convincing the young hunter to join them instead, but Dr. Maeda somehow won her over first. “So we’re just supposed to let her have super powers? And do what with them?”

“You could make her a hunter” Twilight offered simply, earning her a flat glare.

“You did say you wanted to give Aya a partner” Cadence added to save her in-law, drawing the glare her way. Unlike Twilight however, she didn’t flinch under the man’s stare “Yes, I know you were joking. Honestly, so was I. At least I was at first. But even in just the little while she’s been with us, Sunny’s showed some remarkable adaptability.”

“She has improved at a pretty impressive pace, and I don’t just mean with her physical therpy” Shining also added earnestly, turning Rupert’s stare to disbelief.

“She’s a teenager! With no identity or memory!” the bald man contended “The Bureau would never consider hiring someone like her.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing we broke from the Bureau, isn’t it?" Cadence smiled smugly "Considering we’ve sort of hired her already.”

“As a…” Rupert paused “We didn’t even give her a title! The feds wouldn’t care about that, but they do get a say in who we make into hunters.”

“I’d put through the paperwork. Hell, I’d even put in a recommendation” Rupert stared at the agent like he had grown a second head “Sunset’s a blank slate, she can be molded into anything. And with how smart she clearly is, that anything might be literal.”

“Not exactly the most ethical argument there babe.” Cadence pointed out. “Though Sunset wants this, and while I can only breach confidence so much, I can definitely say that us not allowing her to develop her powers isn’t going to stop her from still trying.”

“I don’t think saying she’s ambitious is a breach of confidence, Doctor. We all knew she was ambitious less than an hour after she woke up” he assured her before continuing in a more somber tone “Which is another concern we shouldn’t dismiss. She may want this now, will she when she learns what it really means to be a hunter? Can you say she’s mentally stable enough to handle it?”

Cadence took a deep breath and considered a few moments before answering. She had already made her conclusions but she knew better than to always just go with her gut. She also owed it to the director to not forgo any reconsideration. She was fairly sure she got a good read on Sunset’s character though: Driven, Brilliant, Adaptable, and yes, arrogant to a fault, even manipulative. But mentally unstable? No.

“I think she’s too determined to fall apart like that.” the counselor confirmed “Yes, when it all finally does hit her, it will undoubtedly hit her hard. But she’s already proven how resilient she can be by just dealing with everything that’s happened to her so far. The girl was chased, wounded, and transformed by NMCs, all of which landed her in a coma for two weeks. Yet as soon as she wakes up she’s ready to face them again. She’s not weak.”

Rupert frowned, though more contemplative than before. He let out a sigh before regarding Twilight again. She met his gaze with a nervous certainty, but certainty nonetheless.

“Sunset’s the first awakened willing to develop her powers like this since Aya. Yes, Starlight and I still work on ours but if that’s proven anything, it’s that they grow faster and stronger when tested against NMCs. AJ’s abilities are, while yes significantly more limited, already more powerful than mine and Rarity’s more honed.” Twilight explained “I understand your concerns Rupert. I don’t feel right knowing that I’m basically recommending we train an amnesiac girl more than half a decade my junior to be a monster slayer. We rarely get the luxury of normalcy here at MIST though, do we?”

“No, we don’t” the director sighed again with the begrudging agreement. He nearly forgot that Twilight had been with them for over seven years now, more than long enough to be there when they lost other young hunters. Not quite as young as Sunset, but still... It was too easy to forget these girls were older than they looked. “And we are short handed, even with the Fed’s support. Another awakened hunter would certainly help… we could stop her though, even if she tried without us anyway.”

The last statement was directed to their counselor. She gave a releting shrug.

“We could, but not without locking her up and forcing her on suppressants. There’s also the very real possibility she’d outsmart us if we tried. This is honestly a win-win, not to mention a lot less of a headache to give her what she wants in this case. Even if it's not the most righteous course of action...” Cadence sighed herself before her husband added another two cents.

“Plus we at least know we wouldn’t be walking into another Baldwin situation with her. Blank slate and all.”

Rupert nodded grimmly at the assessment, remembering MIST’s former Director. The man had been a double agent of their primary adversary, the organization only known as ‘Ark Shadow’. Even after he and so many other moles in the bureau were rooted out, they still knew so little about those that seemed to be trying to forcibly evolve the human race whether they liked it or not. That betrayal had been the primary reason MIST went independent in the first place. Sunset could at least be trusted to not be part of all that, at least… unless...

“What if she gets her memories back?” He asked evenly.

“You think she could be a sleeper?” Shining arched a brow. Twilight however just shook her head.

“That kind of brainwashing still leaves its mark. We’ve examined Sunset in and out more times than she’s certainly been comfortable with; something would have shown up by now. Also consider that if they could brainwash someone that reliably, let alone an awakened NMH, then I doubt they would need those control helmets.” Twilight finished and Cadence gave a short hum.

“I’m inclined to agree. While being an NMH causes more than its fair share of distress, which Sunset is not immune to, I still haven’t seen anything to suggest brainwashing or even coercion” She then gave a shrug “But as for the case of her regaining her memories and possibly not liking what she’s become? What we would make of her? ...That’s harder to predict.”

“A bridge to cross if we ever come to it” Shining declared “I think we’ve made the point that making Miss Shimmer a hunter wouldn’t the worst thing, but it’s your call Rup’. We’ll follow your lead either way.”

Rupert drummed his fingers on the desk, eyes closed in concentration. No one spoke further. Maybe there was more to be said, but Shining was right; it was the director’s decision in the end. Being able to argue for an alternative later was one thing, but he had the final say on the branch’s hunters. He had yet to lead them astray on that front and they knew it was a responsibility, a trust, that he never took for granted.

Silent minutes passed as he deliberated internally. The man opened his eyes and looked to the other MIST leads, only Aya was absent. He locked eyes with each, studying their resolve. Then after several more minutes and a final, heavy sigh, he decided.

“Goddammit.”

Day 15

I’m in. My training starts tomorrow.

Author's Note

I know this and the last chapter we're a bit light on the action and a little heavy on the exposition, but I promise the next chapter with have at least a little bit more excitement.

The rough of the next chapter is well underway as well, so it should be out within a week, maybe less. I would like to build up a little it of a buffer though, knowing my past writing habits and all.

But until then, as always: Thanks for reading and hope to see you for the next chapter. Have a good one!