11 Chapter 8: First Kill Achieved

Tatsumi, Gunnar and Leone were standing outside of a large golden arch leading into Main Street. The arch was massive standing about, as Gunnar figured, over sixty feet tall and possibly thirty five feet wide if including the space for the entrance. It almost looked like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. This place was surprising the mutant more and more. He had his costume hidden under his civilian clothes when they got away from the public eye or at least not to draw attention to them.

"This here's Main Street," said Leone, her hands on her hips. "Did you both memorize the map like I told you to?"

"Yeah. Yeah I got it," said Tatsumi.

"Thrice," said Gunnar unperturbed, his arms folded as he observed the crowd.

"My, are we thorough?" said Leone with a small smile upon her pus. She saw Tatsumi looking unsure about himself. It had to have been from what Akame said to him earlier. "Tatsumi, I think I should tell you and Gunnar a few things about Akame's past. When she was a kid, she and her sister were sold to the empire. They were placed in an assassin training camp with other abandoned kids. She learned to survive the harsh surroundings as well as the art of murder. She grew up an assassin, blindly doing the Empire's dirty work but as she got older she could see the darkness the Empire was hiding. One day, she was sent to kill the boss but it didn't happen. Somehow, she convinced her to join the Revolutionary Army and join the side of the people. By the time she could do it, most of the kids she grew up with were already dead." She then turned to them both. "Do you guys understand what I'm getting at?"

"Yeah," Gunnar said, his head in understanding all of what he heard. In a strange way, his story was not so different from Akames'. Before the X-Men found him, all he ever been in his life was just a weapon, never to have any emotion or thought whatsoever. He had to keep them hidden away from the minds of Weapon K because if they did, they'd discipline him with shock therapy via shock collar with level eight intensity.

One day he made an escape from the facility and into the wilderness. He thrived there until he was taken in by a good Christian family living along the river side. Despite the fact Gunnar was mutant, they took pity on him and raised him as if he was their own. His apprehension was eventually worn out from their patience and assured compassion. Their oldest son taught the mutant to read and write through passages of the Bible while helping the parents with housework they were glad to teach him.

But as many good things come into someone's life, something always has to come along and ruin it in a big fucking way. It wasn't too long until the bastards of Weapon K caught up to him and threatened to off them if he didn't comply with their wishes. Even despite this, they still killed the good family in order to leave no witnesses; one of the classic bait-and-trap situations that all evil fucks pull on the good guy. An empty promise for trapping a naive fool.

Gunnar clenched his teeth as his hands gripped his arms, trying to hide his anger. He could never forget what that slice of humanity did to innocent people. From then on, he promised to never trust anyone fully until they were worthy of his trust. As the cavalry finally came for him, only one thing came to mind: indiscriminating revenge against his captors. He, along with Wolverine, X-2 and their fellow X-Men insured the complete destruction of Weapon K and its assets; using their own info against them.

While contemplating on this, Tatsumi was different in his understanding of the situation with Akame. "Yeah, yeah," he said with arms folded. "As a professional killer, you're saying there are things a rookie like me doesn't understand yet."

Leone had a small smile now, seeing that the boys got the point. "Well if you both manage to live through the day, then you'll know a little more." She then turned to leave in the direction to meet up with Akame. "Good luck you two."

Tatsumi nodded as Gunnar did the same. Both of them started on their way along Main Street when unbeknownst to Tatsumi, Leone grabbed a hold of Gunnar's shoulder and gave it a well-meaning tug. "Oh, and Gunnar? Just be careful with each other, okay? I know you're certain that you can handle things just the same as back home wherever you're from. But never be too careless and please don't get in over your head. We still want you around," she said in a low voice so Tatsumi wouldn't hear her talking to him. She firmly but compassionately squeezed the mutant's shoulder to show her sign of concern. Normally, Gunnar would see this as a means of contradicting him and his abilities.

But the way Leone said it was something he picked up in her tone. Without saying anything, Gunnar squeezed her hand in the same way as she did, giving her an assured smile and a nod. And with that, he then walked up behind the small fry and followed him into the busy street. Leone watched them until they evaporated into the crowd. "Please be careful," she said softly.

It wasn't long until Gunnar and Tatsumi found Captain Ogre lumbering drunk through the street. They both watched him as he passed, looking completely unaware of what was coming to him. "Nothing like finishing off a torture than knocking back a cold one," he heard the gruff general say.

Gunnar didn't need to find any amount of sympathy in this guy. He didn't need to take the time to talk anyone out of the corruption that settled in like a snake curled up in corner of someones' basement; lurking in wait before exposing its fangs to an unsuspecting victim. If that wasn't enough of a reason, the bastard looked big enough to be a challenge but not enough for the mutant clone to get his claws bloodied. If the kid was to prove himself an assassin, he was to do it on his own. He promised he'd have Tatsumi's back in case things went wrong, such as a nearby Imperial patrol that Ogre might have waiting for them.

So far, things seem to be going easy. The plan was simple: lure the sadistic captain away from the public eye and kill him with no witnesses. Whatever way Tatsumi planned to get the captain to follow seemed to be working as he could make him out from his white hoodie. Gunnar had been keeping an eye on him from one side of the street in order not to arouse suspicion. He saw Tatsumi looking for him and when caught sight of him he gave Gunnar a slight nod: the signal that Captain Ogre was taking the bait.

Keeping his distance, the X-Man followed the two his eyes never taken off of them. It wasn't long until they were in a quiet part of town. Gunnar had to give the kid credit, he wasn't fucking this up so far. He climbed up one the buildings to get a better look over the situation and to keep a better eye on any surprises that might be waiting for them. When he was in a good position, he listened in to their conversation. "Okay kid, start talking. I wanna get home," said the captain gruffly.

"Of course," said Tatsumi, facing away from him. The next thing Gunnar knew he saw Tatsumi on his knees and hands down on the ground, pleading for the captain to let him join the Imperial guard in order to earn money for his family in the country.

"Tatsumi, you better be doing this to draw him into a false sense of security you moron!" he shouted in his thoughts. He knew that the best way to kill a target was not to waste too much time playing with your victim and just cut to the kill. The captain wasn't having it and told him to just follow the procedures like everyone else as he was walking away. Irritated, Gunnar was just about to pounce on the fucker when he noticed Tatsumi reaching for his sword from within his hood. Maybe the kid wasn't as stupid as he seemed.

The captain seemed to be onto him by what Tatsumi said as the mutant noticed the oversized oaf reaching for his blade too. As Ogre was about to turn and kill Tatsumi, the kid moved faster and struck the corrupt soldier through the abdomen. "Just like that!" said Tatsumi.

"Not bad kid," said Gunnar as he leaped down from the roof behind, almost catching Tatsumi by surprise. "I was beginning to think you were going to screw this up. But I guess you had it in hand after all."

"Ha, told ya so. Let's get back to base and tell everyone how the rookie didn't help after all." But as they were about to do so, the brash captain was getting up and was about to strike the both of them down.

Gunnar saw him and shoved the little assassin aside while shouting "Move!" The blade came down and struck the mutant clone.

Tatsumi looked up to see his friend getting struck as his look of confusion turned to horror. "Gunnar, no!"

Gunnar could feel the blade wedged into his shoulder, painful but not enough to kill him. "God dammit!" he thought to himself. He then grabbed Ogre's blade and pulled it out of him.

Ogre, looking surprised and shocked as Tatsumi was, asked in utter and stunned manner "What the hell are you?!"

Gunnar put his fist the captain's chin and 'snikt' went his claws into his brain. "I'm different." Gunnar said. With his claws back in, the now dead captain slumped to the floor motionless. A quick healing later, the mutant clone looked to the young assassin with brows raised. "I wasn't kidding when I said I was the kind of mutant you don't want to fuck with."

He offered Tatsumi a hand up which Tatsumi took gladly. "Y-y-yeah. No kidding," he said, still a little shaken up by what he just saw.

"I trust the next time you'll learn to double tap when killing someone. Never just assume they're dead after one blow," said Gunnar grimacing. "Got it?" Tatsumi shook his head thoroughly in agreement. "Because next time I won't be around to save your ass. I hope for your sake it doesn't happen again. Now let's get out of here before someone catches wind of what we just did." The boys turned and headed back to base, the bastard captain still dead, his blood dripping into the sewers below.