Yes, because all it would take is some random idiot who could actually shoot straight to kill him.





Those cops wouldn't live very long. Paranoia is a survival instinct when you can die easily.





I understand that, but what I meant was Anna and Nena might never have the chance. As soon as their system detects a major malfunction, they'd go into maintenance sleep mode, except the nanobots that normally do maintenance wouldn't. So they'd just be stuck in sleep mode. It would be more like someone who falls into a coma suddenly.





She *tries* to solve them without violence. When the violence suddenly ramps up and becomes more serious, she'll have a really hard time sticking to that. It's the difference between knowing you're slightly superiorly skilled and prepared, and just being scared, and fighting hard to survive. That kind of thing tends to make a person give up on idealism.





That she might definitely do, simply because she realizes she can't keep fighting and killing people.





Nothing is random in fiction. The trick is to make it seem like it is. There is a temptation to finish making a point in a scene before the interruption occurs, and *that* is what makes it feel staged. To make it feel real I'll sometimes interrupt a conversation in the middle, and then leave it unresolved.





Sometimes things around you just refuse to be quiet. Or the person you're trying to sneak around is looking right in your direction, and won't stop doing that.

I watched actual videos of actual ninja and akido trained people doing what is very possible in the real world, and learned some things from it:

1. Stealth is actually more speed and surprise than sneaking. Sneaking like people do in movies is way noisier than it looks, and humans are highly motion sensitive, and have pretty good peripheral vision, so it doesn't work anyhow. The *real* secret is to plan your route through a room, and cover the distance faster than someone can figure out what's going on. The *actual* stealth part is hiding somewhere and being extremely patient, waiting for the right time.

2. The whole "disabling an opponent" thing is actually true. Even self-defense classes teach it now, things like throwing an opponent off balance by taking out lets of hitting the upper body, or opening with a throat or eye strike leaving them unable to see or breathe. Another surprising truth is there actually is a narrow pressure point on the chest where depending on your strength, you can stop the heart or cause fibrillation. It's like a hardware-less stun gun, but requires a very hard hit on a very tiny spot. So train up your fingertips.

3. Akido is part of the same training, and has to do with using an opponent's own velocity and direction against them, sidestepping it with perfect accuracy. I saw a video with a 90 year old Japanese man who could barely walk taking on 2 or 3 karate students at once, landing them on their backs or faces while hardly even moving.

4. Surprisingly, most of ninja training is simply learning how to balance like circus performers do. Being able to throw your weight around and use a lot of muscular force while standing your ground (i.e. not falling on your butt) is central to all of the training. What makes them superior fighters isn't power.

It's fun to watch those videos, and good for making World Class more believable as I develop the story.





I hope so.





That would make her kind of scared and depressed.





If *everyone* was in 1650, all of the women would probably end up imprisoned anyhow. Especially Yuki. Also, everyone would make jokes about Mumph feeling right at home.





Noted?