The night seemed to go so fast for Gunnar as he woke up the next morning. He was given some spare clothes courtesy of Bulat out of kindness. As he got ready for the day, his mind pondered over the events that happened yesterday. Who is he to be concerned about these misfit assassins? True it seemed like Shelle, Lubbock and Mine didn't quite fit the bill of being killer assassins, but he knew better than anyone that appearances are always deceiving.
Gunnar took upon himself to carefully study each and every member of Night Raid, including Najenda, to better himself in case of a double cross. Though it may seem doubtful. Once all set, he headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. He noticed that everyone except Akame, Leone and Najenda were present at the table with Tatsumi prepping the meals. Before heading to bed, both he and Gunnar agreed that they would take turns prepping meals for the day every day. How they both decided on who the loser was to be the first to do so was quite simple: rock, paper and scissors (roshambo) for it. Luckily for Gunnar he won two times out of three. He sat down alongside Shelle as everyone else was asking for seconds.
By the look on Tatsumi's face, they were running him ragged. Gunnar wasn't much of a cook, but he would make sure to take the time to get it right. But from what he did, the kid did pretty good cooking breakfast for everyone. Gunnar found out earlier that Tatsumi learned from his friends how to prep and serve as preparation for working in the Capital. "Grub's looking great, Tats. Hope you can fight as well as you can cook," he said prodding fun at him.
"You just wait." Tatsumi replied. "I'll show you just how skilled I can really be."
"Like you're anything special." Mine rolled her eyes at them.
"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you." Gunnar replied sarcastically to her as he was digging in. He really didn't see how such a whinny little brat could be part of an elite team of killers. "So when exactly do I get to shed some blood around here?"
"All in good time, my friend," said Bulat. "Right now, you and Tatsumi need to know some of the best techniques and training we do around here. Hopefully after we see what you're made of, we'll include you in more." Gunnar couldn't help feel like that was a jab at him in regards to his comment about them yesterday. For now, he stayed silent for the rest of his meal.
Afterwards, Gunnar started his training regiment. On days he wasn't being trained by Night Raid, he would either gather materials to create his own weight lifting equipment or read through some of the books to get additional knowledge about how this land came to be as such. Later that day, the mutant clone came back in from working out to see if dinner was ready yet and he could hear the usual bustling in the kitchen as he got near. "C'mon!" he heard Tatsumi complain. "I thought I was suppose to become an assassin, not a stupid chef!"
"Don't look at me," said Akame eating some of the cuts of meat. Her long hair was done in a ponytail as she wore a pink apron. "I just put food on the plates."
"And eat it before anyone else can get their hands on it." Gunnar said jokingly as he walked in. He had been chopping wood for the kitchen fire for a workout as he brought in a bundle of it for them.
"Yeah,-" Tatsumi agreed sarcastically as he was peeling a potato. "-like they won't let you cook because you kept sampling the food, is that it?"
"I don't know what you two mean," said Akame, still sampling. Gunnar just rolled his eyes as Tatsumi implied "You are not a good liar."
"Aw look, you're right at home in the kitchen aren't you, rookie?" said a familiar stuck-up voice. All three turned to see Mine standing with Bulat, Lubbock and Sheele in the doorway.
"Later, sunshine," said Bulat. They all looked like they were about to head out on a mission. Tatsumi asked them if it was so, to which Bulat replied that they were and that it was for a special request. When Tatsumi asked if he should come too, Mine had told him that he couldn't and just stay in the kitchen; to be a good cook and cut a few cucumbers for her. It obviously was meant to be a wisecrack to irritate Tatsumi, as Gunnar figured.
He decided to help out the little man by defending him with a little quip of his own saying "Careful, Pinkie. You don't wanna fuck with people who make your food. They just might give you food poisoning. Or worse." With that addition, he had slight curl of a smug smile on his face. "I know I would."
Huffing, the pig-tailed girl replied "You do and I'll have you begging for me to forgive you!"
"Sticks and stones, little shrimp. Sticks and stones," said Gunnar as he extracted a piece of fruit with one hand from the fruit bowl, giving her a shooing gesture with the other. "Now run along and hurry back before I consider the thought." And with that, Mine scowled and brushed by her fellow Night Raiders with them following suit after another goodbye.
The next day, Tatsumi and Gunnar were before a great waterfall with Akame. It fell into six solitary columns of fresh river water high from a ledge roughly 20 feet above them. It was like a miniature but tame version of Niagara Falls. "Wow! This place is great!" Tatsumi marveled at the waterfall.
"Not a bad place for a private vacation spot," said Gunnar, humbled by what he saw.
"Today, we'll start by catching fish for dinner," said Akame as she begin to strip down to her skivvies (or her underwear if you want to be technical). Tatsumi was surprised being caught of guard that he fell backwards on his ass.
Gunnar looked at him raised eyebrows. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he asked him.
Tatsumi looked up to see that Akame was just in a swimsuit. Putting two-and-two together, Gunnar smiled as he mocked Tatsumi. "What's the matter, Tats? Never seen a naked woman before?" Tatsumi, feeling relieved but annoyed by the mutant clones' remark, frowned at him.
Looking unmoved, Akame continued as she walked towards the little lake. "The target is Koga Tuna. See how many you both can get."
"Aren't those things extremely rare and stupidly hard to get a hold of?" asked Tatsumi. But even when he asked that, she dove right into the water and swam into the clear dark below. Within a few moments, tuna were popping out of the water left and right.
"Evidently not for her." Gunnar said matter-of-factly. Tatsumi looked shocked and stunned as Akame's fish landed right into her basket.
Akame soon came up to the surface, floating upon the surface. "First you two have to swim all the way to the bottom, then conceal your aura and make your attack," she explained. "You'll have to act quickly. Give it a try."
Now it has been known to Gunnar that his predecessor has had trouble swimming, keeping afloat in water on the account of the dense metallic skeleton. Being concerned about this, Gunnar tried to become a better swimmer time and time again. Despite eventually getting better, he still had that nagging fear of drowning. So he allowed Tatsumi to go first. Gunnar figured if he could stay close to the ledge, he'd be able to climb up with his claws in case he'd have trouble swimming upwards.
The X-Man never would have any member of Night Raid know about this. If they knew about about how he could possibly drown, he'd never hear the end of it; especially Mine. He never could give her the satisfaction of teasing him about his plausible Achilles heel. Tatsumi ended up catching just two fish, despite them being bigger than the other fish Akame caught.
When it was Gunnar's turn, he took the deepest breath he could muster and dropped from the ledge allowing his weight to drag him down to the very bottom. He had to have been about ten feet down below. Once his feet reached the bottom, he dug his claws into the ridge and climbed up a little ways up. Calmly, he peered through the clear blue water and found a school of Kota Tuna swimming a bit above him. Timing it just right, he pushed off with all his might and soared towards the fish like a living harpoon. He was able to snag three fish, two big and one medium. With his kill in hand, the mutant swam up to the surface until he finally reached air. Even if he didn't catch as many fish as Akame, Gunnar could still find comfort in outdoing Tatsumi.
Later that same day, the three of them were enjoying their catch of the day with Leone and Najenda. "Wow," said Najenda. "In the end, our big strong boys caught a total of five fish." Whether it was intended to be a joke or just a jab at teasing them, Gunnar shrugged it off the best he could.
"Yeah, Akame said you ripped off your shirt and said some shit like 'I got this!' " Leone teased Tatsumi.
"It'll take some time," said Akame, holding a Kota Tuna head.
"Oh, like it was easy enough for you." Gunnar said to her. He looked to the other women and spoke to them. "Besides, I'm more of a hunter than a fisherman. I'd like to see any of you do better."
"Anyway, Leone, what did you find out?" Najenda went ahead with the subject at hand. It seemed that they got back from a previous mission.
"Here's the deal," said Leone as she placed two photographs on the table. One looked like a fat bald-headed monk with a toadish face, and the other looked like a gruff seasoned war veteran with a scar over one of his eyes. "The targets are Ogre of the Imperial guard and Gamal the oil merchant. And according to the client,..." She went on to explain that Ogre was accepting bribes from Gamal. Whenever he gets in trouble, Ogre finds someone else to pin the blame; in this case the client's fiancée. His sentence: death. Thus she came to Leone for Night Raid's assistance. Leone then placed a large bag of money on the table. "Here it is," she went on, leaning back as she folded her arms. "She paid it all up front."
"I'm surprised that she could give us that much," said Tatsumi.
Gunnar could see Leone clench her one of her arms in restrained anger. "She smelled sickly. I think she's been selling her body."
"You sure she wasn't lying?" asked Gunnar. He knew more than anyone that corruption was always one of the many roots of humanity's evil, but was careful not to be fooled by what he heard unless otherwise.
Leone looked up at him. "My senses have never steered me wrong yet, sweetie," she said to him. "He's guilty."
Najenda lit a cigarillo. "Then Night Raid accepts this assignment," she said decisively. "In the new nation we wish to create, there's no room for his trash. He needs divine punishment." Gunnar couldn't agree more. In order for the world to be a better place, there's need to get rid of the assholes that truly make it difficult to be as such.
"We shouldn't have much trouble with the oil merchant," said Leone. "But I'll betcha Ogre will be a pain in the ass."
"Tch, how bad can he be?" said Gunnar.
"Ogre is a demon. He's very skilled with the sword and the hit men are scared of him. And he's always surrounded by a crowd of subordinates. He's never been seen alone. He's so careful that Gamal delivers all payments to his personal chambers. But on his days off he goes drinking on Main Street right by the palace."
"Okay," said Tatsumi. "Sounds like we'll know when to strike."
"But that area is heavily guarded," informed Najenda. "We can't send Akame. They already know what she looks like."
"Hello!" said Leone with her hand up as if she was in class. "They don't have any wanted posters of me yet."
"Can you do it?"
"Targets like these pukes are the ones I live for." Gunnar couldn't help but smile. Like him, Leone seemed confident in herself and not intimidated by anyone like these two imperial degenerates.
"I think we should wait until the others are here," said Akame in her non-changing monotone.
"Yeah but do we know if they're coming back yet?" asked Gunnar. There seemed to be a silent agreement with everyone when he brought that up.
Tatsumi then slammed both palms on the table. "Then let's head out on this mission without them!"
"Oh? You both think you're capable of killing Ogre yourselves?" asked Najenda in an contradicting tone.
"Careful how you boys answer that," said Leone. "Keep pretending you're big shots and we just might make you both back it up."
"Who said I was pretending?" Gunnar said mockingly, shooting her a cocky smile.
Tatsumi seemed taken back, however, especially after Akame implied that he can't do it as he is. "But I'm an expert swordsman." he said matter-of-factly.
"What I mean is that you can't kill people." Akame rephrased.
"But...I did it once." Tatsumi calmly replied. He was referring to when he killed Aria.
"You were blinded by rage that night." Akame stated. Gunnar knew she had a point. He felt like Tatsumi was still new to being exposed to this line of work. "Can you kill a person under any circumstances without stopping to think about it?" It felt like a test question. Gunnar was willing to do so but only if it was undoubtedly certain that the target was proof enough to be eliminated.
"I don't know, but Ogre is framing another innocent person while the five of us are sitting here arguing about it. That's why I don't want us to wait. I know how much it hurts to lose someone without good reason and it's not fun. I don't want anyone else to feel like that."
"Then it's settled," said Najenda, putting out her finished cigarillo. She then stood up. "I admire your conviction, Tatsumi. Take him down."
"That's what I like to hear!" Leone cheerfully slapped the small swordsman on the back. "You got spunk, don'tcha?!" She then had a playful arm around him, making Gunnar frown a little.
"And what am I supposed to do, play housekeeper here?" he asked.
"You'll be going along with him as backup in case something goes wrong," assured Najenda. She then had a teasing smile on her face. "Or if Tatsumi isn't able to pull through with the kill." Gunnar was rather surprised about the sudden addition of him coming along the kid. For now, he decided to play it off. The X-Man nodded in feigned understanding. The boss then acknowledged to Akame and Leone. "I'd like you two ladies to focus on the oil merchant."
"You got it," was Leone's confident response as Akame replied "Understood." She got up to turn and leave to prepare.
"See, Akame? I can take care of business when push comes to shove." Tatsumi said with confidence.
"I'll withhold judgment of your abilities until you complete the mission and report back." Akame said. She then turned to glance at him. "If you begin with overconfidence and arrogance, you'll die." There was something cold but true in the way she said it, as if there was concern in terms of the reality of him undertaking it as Tatsumi looked taken aback yet again.
Noticing this, Gunnar stepped in saying "Don't worry, Akame. I'll hold his hand in case he gets scared," he said in a teasingly mocking tone to her as he placed right hand on the shrimp's left shoulder. "You can be sure of that."
"Be careful in what you say, Gunnar. It could happen to you too." Now he just felt just as taken aback as his little friend was. It didn't matter. One way or another, she'll see the mutant clone in how capable he really is in any given situation. Akame then walked away.
"Don't worry about it, Tats," he said to Tatsumi as Akame left out of sight. "One way or another, she'll change her tune. We'll just have to prove her wrong by killing that Ogre bastard."
Tatsumi looked up to his new friend and smiled with confidence. But then Gunnar made him frown when he leaned down to his ear and said to him in a low voice, "Just don't make me have to save your ass again." However the situation will turn out, Gunnar was going to get a swing in knocking this asshole out.
As he said this, Leone was taking notice as a coy smile drew upon her face. "This ought to be interesting." she thought to herself.