Gunpower, Gelatine, Dynamite with a Laser Beam

Bang.

'I'm missing lunchtime right about now. Great,' Kamina thought as he hid behind yet another shot from a sniper rifle straight through the window of an apartment. Renji loaded another round of bullets into the chamber and slightly peeked above from the windowsill, firing back at Mercy King. After a few moments of complete silence, one noise emerged from the attack afterwards, that being of a sniper rifle's bullet flying through the air and in the same spot that Renji had just avoided. It was scarily good accuracy, but not enough to actually hit anything, it seemed. A few seconds later, Renji would be hit with a mixup as another shot flew right past his arm, scraping the sleeve on his uniform. He cringed at the stinging pain and went behind cover.

" Geez. Whoever this guy is, he’s good at killing the stupidest people on the planet, " Kamina added from across the bedroom, sitting by the bedside. He made little sparklers with his finger and pretended to blow them out. " Maybe I'll hire this guy to take out the taxmen. Or golf players. “

" What the hell do you have against golf, anyway? " Renji added, raising an eyebrow. " Every time it comes on the TV, you just change it within seconds and have this pouty look on your face. "

Kamina stared at the ceiling. " It's stupid. And boring. Plus the basketball channel is just one channel down from it. Hey, did you see that Gladiators game last night? Maddox is on FIRE right now. He just got signed to the- "

" Yeah, I know. It was on every newspaper in the city. Durant was all over him when I went to collect that Mobi bounty last week. "

" You know, I hate golf, but you just hate every sport in general. Don't you at least tune in to watch MMA every once in a while? "

" No. That's stupid. "

" You're stupid! "

" I'm the adult here. “

" What's 5 to the fifth power? "

Renji stared at him with a confused squint, then looked to the floor. What was that again?

Kamina shook his head. " Aight, how many shots can be fired from a desert eagle in 3 seconds? "

" 7 if you're fast enough. "

Kamina groaned, shaking his head faster. " This is what I'm talking about, man. Kuma pumped you with useless shit about guns and ammo for your entire life, and a little bit of geography, but only where you can hide out and set up choke points. The world's changed a lot since you were gone, dude. It's gonna creep up on you and bite you in the ass someday. "

" What's so bad about knowing just how to survive? "

" I'm saying you need to slow down, dude. Look around you. I mean, you can’t see anything in this city, but you know what I mean? You've got a long life ahead of you. You're what, 20? 21? I'm only 19. I’m younger than you. We've both got full lives ahead of us. You can’t take it for granted. The worst part of your life is over. So...what's eating you now? "

Over? Renji had just found out that his childhood trauma had come back to haunt him and Kamina thought it was " over "? What did he know? Kamina couldn't remember a thing from any of it, and all that left was Renji to carry the burden of all the guilt and back-breaking labor that had manifested into a big ball of nothingness. What did either of them know anyway? They'd only seen the outside world in books and magazines he found at convenience stores. Maybe Kamina had a point, that the worst days were behind him now, that he'd have all the knowledge to stomp Kuma and their lackeys in the dirt. But winning these battles never came easy, not even in Kuma.

One thing was for sure: Judy was gonna get a verbal can of whoop-ass from Renji tonight.

Yesterday

The now lifeless body of David Brunswick rested in the back of the van as Kamina drove down to the police station in the living district where they'd planned to collect their dues, indulge a bit, and get out of dodge for the night. They didn't consider themselves showboats, and kept quiet on any acquirements they'd make in their bounty hunting careers. Kamina protested with Renji that he needed some sort of side gig to keep him in check, but Renji persisted.

" I've swam too deep into this lake. There’s nowhere else to go but down, you know? "

And so, Kamina submitted himself to the not-exactly-senseless-but-not-kosher-either lifestyle Renji sought out for himself. Sometimes he felt Renji needed a hug, which he tried multiple times, to which Renji denied multiple times. Brotherly love was not his forte.

Kamina once again contemplated all this as he drove on the bridge that hung over the highways of the living district. Lanes of dense traffic from men and women returning home from work laid underneath him and merged this way and that. He shrugged off their internal misfortunes and continued driving, admiring the view. The station wasn't too long from here on out.

Indeed, after a few minutes, somewhere between the postal office and the tabletop games store, laid the police station. It wasn't the biggest police station; it was 3 stories tall and pale, with very little indication that it was a police station other than the seasonal Christmas decorations that would hang around the front of it. With the decline in budget that the city had seen in recent years, affording even one police officer to make their stay here was asking a lot. The best use the police station had in the town was tracking the progress of the gangs that transferred their proof of bounty to their station to get their kills certified, registered, and paid in full. Some rag-tags would spray-paint obscenities over it, but it was to be expected, so the officers there weren't TOO mad about it. They were still pretty mad, though.

Kamina and Renji slowed down in the parking lot and ejected themselves from the vehicle. Renji was almost about to put another bullet into Brunswick's skull to ensure he wouldn't move before Kamina persisted they go inside, ensuring he'd lock the doors to the van, which he did.

After Kamina took a photo of the body with his phone, the two made their way inside the station. Kamina gently walked over to the lady by her computer.

" Oh, hello, you two again, huh? " Juno said, holding up her bright smile against the pain knowing that she'd have to keep doing this over and over for the same two guys. They were scarily efficient at their job, and they could return a wanted man dead or alive back to the station within ten minutes, to their benefit...but to Juno’s detriment.

" Yeah, yeah, hey, we gotta make ourselves a codeword for wanting to hit up Judy about our kills, " Kamina replied, leaning on the counter. " Anyway, we got one right here. Where's that bastard at? "

" I just contacted him as you walked through the door, " Juno said through a gritted-teeth smile.

" Sick! By the way, love your hair tonight. "

" Aw, thank you, " she said through still gritted teeth.

" Okay, we'll start at the donut shop at 4 the day after tomorrow, then we'll take on the mini golf course, then we get a hotel and buy some- "

" Ah, officer Judy! " she proclaimed through her twitchy eyes and sweat falling down her face.

The three indeed heard footsteps as officer Judy Matthews made his entrance into the lobby. Before them was a man who conducted business as usual, but to anyone else, this would've been a revelation to see a police officer in the state that he was in. He gently limped in his walk, his hands tucked into his pockets. His eyes had light grey bags underneath them. His hair was gently shagged and unkempt, and he had a dull frown on his face. If he wasn't wearing a long-sleeved police uniform, he'd just look like some druggie slopping and tumbling in rehab. Judy stood before the two boys and looked at Renji. Renji knew what he'd have to do next.

" David Brunswick, presumably between the ages of 19 and 24. Accused and now convicted of multiple murders, including the Little Lamb and Bonny Swans murders. "

" I mean, you can't convict a guy who's already dead- "

" I know what he means, alright, man? " Judy said and almost mumbled, interrupting Kamina. " Where's the body this time? "

" Right in the trunk, come take a look. " Judy mumbled to himself something out of contempt and followed the boys to the van.

They opened the door and introduced the tired officer to what was David Brunswick.

" Mmkay, " Judy said. " The bounty was....5,000, I think? "

" Oh, come on!! It dropped?! " Kamina shouted. " It was 10,000 when we left to get the guy, when the hell did you re-price this asshole?! "

" Yeahhh, turns out the Bonny Swans murder never happened, at least not from Brunswick. We've no information on what that girl was doing dead on the waters, and we're investigating as we speak. The only clue we've got is that the girl was the sister of an ex-gang member. " He leaned in to gently whisper to the boys about his lone clue.

" And don't tell anyone I told you this, but we've got suspicion Kuma might be somehow involved. "

That almost set Renji off. The boys' eyes widened. Renji tensed up a bit before he stopped himself. " What do you have to go off of? "

" When the station found the body, we noticed a strange trinket sticking out of it. When we got a closer look, it was this business card. " He reached into his pocket with his black gloved hand and showed the card. It was the exact same card that Renji had seen on Brunswick's body.

" Holy shit... "

He retracted the card. " Now that we know there's more people carrying these kinds of cards on them, we're going to have to start piecing things together a bit more. Do you have any idea of what connection either of the victims had to each other? "

" No, sir. "

" I see. " Judy stared back at the body. " Hopefully we can apprehend more of these guys before we start losing not only them but everyone else...now that I think about it... "

" Are you sure you wanna give yourself more work, dude? " Kamina added, looking concerned.

" It's fine. We may have a wanted man that could have something to say about Kuma. "

" Name? "

" Mercy King. We've gotten word of a few killings in the area related to him. Word around town says he's mostly proficient with a sniper rifle. That's all we know right now. "

" Where were his last victims spotted? "

" At the corner of the Mangum Hotel. And...yeah, I remember now...this is interesting: That victim was also a Kuma associate. "

" So they're killing each other too, " Kamina added. " Not too surprising if you ask me, but helps pick 'em up faster. "

" Be careful out there. Don't let your kills get stolen, you two. "

Flash forward to a day later. Current time: 9:38 PM.

We now return to your regularly scheduled sniper shoot-out.

Renji had made his way to the Mangum Hotel the next day to scout out the area. He questioned the manager of the hotel, who knew nothing of who the man was. He'd never cashed in to stay for the hotel, either. All he had to offer was that the bullet came from at least two buildings down, supposedly on one of the rooftops. Mercy had as good an aim as Judy had claimed.

Renji would then peek out gently from the window and immediately be greeted with a close call from a sniper rifle.

And that's where the current conflict lies: Two men sitting in a hotel bedroom trying to snipe Mercy with a lone pistol and electricity. They were clearly having no trouble trying to survive if you ignore the scrape to Renji's sleeve in the midst of the battle.

Mercy was able to counter Renji's pistol shots with a shot of his own every single time. Kamina was getting a little nervous. " We're getting too predictable, " Kamina mentioned, taking a sip of a canteen of water. " We need a marker to move. "

Renji sat for a few seconds before peeking out the window and firing another shot in the dark. A sniper bullet rang out and flew above Kamina's head, making him jump. Renji made a prose roll to the floor.

" There's our marker. So let's move, " Renji proclaimed as Kamina nodded and they made their way downstairs. Kamina was about to run when Renji instructed him to hang low so that they wouldn't be noticed by Mercy. When Renji got out of the room, he quickly pitter-pattered down stairs before turning around and seeing Kamina continue to crawl. " You're gonna do that down a flight of stairs? " And so Kamina started walking normally. " Doesn't help to be cautious, " he said.

The two went to the second to last floor of the hotel where Mr. Mangum, combed blonde hair and beard and all, was there to greet them.

" Mr. Mangum, " Kamina said, sounding relieved. " Thank you so much for your hospitality, sir, this fight's been a bitch to deal with. "

" Easy on the language, son, don't worry about it, " Mangum replied in a gruff tone. " Any help at this rate is appreciated. "

" Did you see anything moving from across where you were sitting at the register? "

" Hm... " I could see a figure with some long object making their way behind that diner...Dee Dee's, was it? Hang on, didn't you say- "

Renji and Kamina looked to each other tensely as Kamina ran forward to tackle him to the ground and help save him from the gunfire.

Except this didn't happen, and right as Kamina took a step forward, he immediately took one back. A bullet pierced the back of the head of Mr. Mangum and toppled him to the ground.

" Shit!! " they both yelled as they started booking it downstairs. Several more sniper shots flew through the windows and followed their trail. Renji tried firing back with his own bullets.

" What's the next marker, chief?! " Kamina yelled in a panic.

" Just find a hideout!! A bathroom!! "

" On it!! "

The two kept running downstairs until Kamina stopped and had an idea. He skidded in place and pulled Renji down with him for immediate cover. The two laid on the ground as Renji turned in confusion.

" The hell is this now?! " Renji shouted.

" Renji!! We’ve gotta go back upstairs!! I just remembered something I read online!! "

" Oh, for god's sake- "

" No, no, hang on!! It was some cop on Youtube, but he brought up a way we can trace him back. "

" Youtube says a lot of things. "

" Right now, we gotta trust each other and not die, so.... "

Renji grit his teeth, following Kamina as they ran upstairs. Him and Mercy proceeded to trade more gunfire. The two threw themselves into a guest room where Renji slammed the door as he saw Kamina run into the bathroom.

Kamina shuffled through the cabinets. Your typical commodities: Shampoo, detergent, tampons, deodorant, hairspray...bingo. He grinned from ear to ear and grabbed it, running back to Renji. " Alright. I'm gonna crouch-walk down the hallway and I'm gonna spray this. You stay right there...and watch the magic. " He made flamboyant hand motions as Renji gave him a dead stare. " Sure, " he replied.

The door creaked open, and Kamina crouched, beginning to spray the can across the windowsills. Nothing seemed to happen. Renji plugged his nose and cringed.

That's when a long red laser stuck out.

Renji gripped the handle of his pistol and ran into the hall, jumping over the laser like a trip wire. He saw another shot ring out. Now he knew exactly where Mercy was thanks to what Kamina did.

Renji's spiky anime-haired friend ran behind him. " He's relocated to two buildings down!! " Renji yelled. " Don't let go of that spray!!! "

" Si, capitan! " Kamina shouted back.

The two ran back downstairs and ran outside, right into the open range where Mercy could see them. They were playing a dangerous game and almost got knocked down twice from gunfire, which Renji happily returned. Kamina was happy to finally able to make a stand as well, flinging balls of electricity across the walls of the hotels, trying to snipe them down as well. They made chase to the now-abandoned Bartum Grande where Renji had deducted he was hiding. More gunshots scraped by the two as Renji strangely started accelerating. Kamina managed to keep up with him, sparks of lightning flying by his feet. He sprayed the hairspray where-ever there was a bullet fired, tracking the invisible laser which helped Mercy deliver shots so efficiently. He could see that Renji's face was fuming with hatred, his teeth gritted and his pupils shrunken. This was a mood that the two were used to thanks to the highly suspicious serum they received in Kuma. Renji would tend to become enraged, somewhat bloodthirsty even, when these drugs kicked in. Kamina was always better at controlling the side-effects of the serum, but Renji was able to bring out its sheer, unpredictable power out of nowhere.

Soon, Kamina saw Renji flying ahead of him, busting down the doors to the Bartum Grande and running upstairs. Kamina trailed behind, not knowing what was going on with Renji now. All he could hear were rustling gun clicks and slams against the wall.

Renji had finally cornered Mercy. He kicked down the hotel door and locked and loaded, running towards the figure who tried to pull something out of the bag on their side. Renji was quicker and kicked Mercy in the stomach, pinning him to the wall.

Renji pointed his pistol at Mercy's head. Mercy shuffled his long, curly black hair out of the way and laid motionless. Renji was at the brink of murderous intent, just barely escaping the path of insanity. He wiped drool that ran down his chin and managed to cool off. The mission was over, and the game was up. He had nothing to go wild over now, and he knew that. A smirk ran across his face looking at his bounty. Mercy was very delicate about his appearance, wearing not only lipstick, but a white suit with ruffles at the collar. It matched his long, white pants and dress shoes, which looked more like bowling shoes with the white and black on top and bottom. White leather gloves helped keep his hands free of filth on his behalf.

" What the hell are you up to with Kuma? " Renji asked calmly.

" I'm just in charge of cleaning up the filth that was left behind in the sink of our organization. " he said.

Or, she, rather.

" You think I still haven't cut ties with you pieces of shit? After having lost my childhood to you assholes? " Kamina ran back in at this point.

" You know you can't turn your back on family forever. " Mercy's sniper rifle was aimed back at Renji at this point.

" You think Mr. White and whoever in God's name was working with him was my family? " Renji said, spitting in Mercy’s’ face a little as she cringed.

Holy shit holy shit holyshit they were a chick the whole time, Kamina could only think in the midst of this. He felt himself getting a little excited.

" Well, of course not. They're still kicking, obviously, " Mercy added.

" They're WHAT? " Renji shouted.

" You heard me. The cruise ship explosion was fabricated. Your grandfather's still alive, too. The kidnappers didn't take him out in one shot. "

" What the hell are you talking about and where the hell are they?! "

Mercy muttered something under her breath before she turned back to Renji.

" Not to worry...they'll come for you. What happens next is up to you. "

" How the hell do they- "

Mercy deepened the barrel of her rifle deeper into Renji's chest. " We've got each other right where we want us, " she said, changing the subject. " Don't think I'll spare your pitiful brother in arms, either. I can tell he's interested in...negotiation. " She smiled saying this to Kamina, her eyes squinting with a welcoming attitude.

Kamina was grinning from ear to ear watching them converse as he perked up. He got up and stretched his arms, still in delight. " Well, they did say dead or alive, and as fine as a dame such as yourself is, we're gonna have to transport you to ol' Judy. Then either to the slammer or the execution chamber. Your choice. I hope, anyways. "

" Sentencing me to death for eliminating the scum of the earth? "

" Them's the rules, lady. Game over. "

" ...no...you are right...I am scum of the earth myself. I was in that damned organization too. For many years. Took many lives in the overworld. I may as well pay that atonement. Consider this your first labor, Renji. "

....

Mercy suddenly reached for Renji's revolver with her free hand and ripped it from his own, She pointed it to the side of her hand…

“ …congratulations. “

and pulled the trigger.

The two went silent. Renji had just been given a huge info dump on his family before the messenger had just passed. Kamina just lost the chance to score. Both were equally of tragedy.

Only the whirring and clicking of an old fan dominated the soundscape.

Current time: 10:24 PM

" Son of a bitch, " Kamina moaned and begroaned while driving back from the police station. " First Juno remains in blissful ignorance and now this fine lookin' bitch is dead. This was the Summer of Love, maaaan! “

Renji stared out the window, disregarding Kamina's hookup problems. He hadn't said anything to Kamina this entire car ride, and he continued to say nothing and contemplate in deep thought on where his family was going to be. He'd no idea of how his parents had died in the first place, or that his grandfather was still alive, and they were looking for him, too. Not only was Kuma back, but his family was too. The only guardian Renji had ever known besides his grandfather was White. It was not at all a good sign of who he turned out to be. It was as if the entire city had turned against Renji, but for what reason? Death by association was the closest thing he could think of. Petty little pricks. He never wanted to kill, but by force, he became a hitman, a watchdog, a bodyguard. He had a body count in those days killing hostages and convicts when they wouldn't shut up. What was to be of his fate was officially up in the air.

" Are you really gonna keep your mouth shut this entire time? "

Kamina snapped him out of his trance as he turned his aching head.

" Look, I get that this is a lot to take in at once but my god, don't you want to at least turn the radio on? " Renji responded by slowly turning his head back to the window and staring. He laid his hand under his chin in thought.

" Look. We literally built this city from the ground up and made it what it is. We turned trash into treasure. We know everything there is to know about this place. We're the god-damn presidents of this bitch. We'll find those bitches, we'll find your family, and we will take them down before even the ol' Thunderdome comes around. So, what’s the plan here? “

Renji would slowly nod hearing this and finally speak up.

" I'll kill 'em all if I have to. "