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A cheering crowd surrounded the shooting gallery right outside of the Saints’ hideout. The former hotel’s yard that had transformed into a homeless camp over the past couple of years, was now where the Saints tested their firearms and practised their aim. Johnny was in charge of setting it up and keeping stock of the gang’s arsenal. No weapon left their stash without him knowing it.
Between taking care of business for his leader and being hospitalized, the second in command had not had time to extend the range for more users yet. Thus, the shooting range was normally only occupied by one or two Saints at a time. But today, at least a dozen purple wearing people were hanging around here, eager to witness what was about to go down.
At that moment, Kate had entered the hotel’s lobby from the staircase leading up to the streets. Wondering why it was so quiet and deserted,
the blonde made her way down the stairs. As she descended, she could make out the sound of people cheering coming from outside.
She joined her fellow gang members, surprised to find them all gathered here. The crowd was blocking her view of what it was that had them so excited, so she decided to ask the tall man she immediately recognized among everyone here, “What’s going on?”
Scars turned around, greeting his friend, “Johnny and the Boss got into an argument about who’s the better shot earlier. So he challenged her to a competition to settle it.”
He stepped aside to make room for her. Kate finally got a look at what was happening. Just as he had said, the gang’s top dogs were standing on one side of the shooting range. On the other end, she spotted Pierce setting up several empty, metal cans on a table. The lieutenant made sure that the cans were spread out equally and in a neat line so none of the shooters had an unfair advantage. Once he was satisfied, he quickly rushed back to the crowd.
“Aight, that’s twelve cans each,” he announced, “whoever knocks over all of their cans first wins.”
That sounded simple enough. But could this really prove which of the two was the better shot? These cans were stationary.
Moving targets would be a true test. But she figured this was the best they could come up with on the spot.
“You’ll both use the same weapon. Reload as many times as you need,” he explained the basic rules of how this was going to work.
“I won’t even need to reload,” Johnny bragged, sure of himself as he raised his Vice 9 pistol.
Kate knew that was not an impossible task. That gun’s magazine held up to 12 rounds. So if he didn’t miss a single shot, the man could indeed finish this without ever reloading.
“I reload quicker than you can pull the trigger,” the redhead snidely countered his claim.
Having seen them both in action, it was hard to tell who would come out on top. They both had different fighting styles, but were equally as effective. While Johnny took more time to aim, he made up for it with accuracy. The Boss was the exact opposite, she would quickly empty her magazine into an enemy, not bothered if some of her shots missed.
“You both ready?” Pierce asked the pair as he raised his arms.
The two of them got in position, ready to fire.
“Go!” He yelled, quickly lowering his arms.
The red haired woman started shooting immediately. One, two, three, four. She fired her pistol as if it was fully automatic. It was impossible to count anyone’s shots with how loud it was and how quickly she discharged her firearm. Four cans on her table hit the ground when she ejected the empty magazine from the gun’s grip. Johnny had already hit six at this point. However, true to her word, the redhead slapped a new magazine into her gun before he could even fire shot number seven. Her movements were almost too quick for the eye to see.
Both of them held their gun with only their right hand, the only difference being that Johnny held his sideways.
Just as quickly as before, the horned woman emptied another mag as she knocked another five cans off the table, while Johnny shot his tenth.
The brick wall behind the cans was riddled with bullet holes, a testament of how often this shooting range was used.
The score was nine to ten in his favour. Reloading her gun for the second time, Vivi quickly squeezed the trigger to shoot the remaining three cans. The two Saints were head to head, which hyped up their audience. Johnny aimed his gun at the last can standing when Velvet sent a hail of bullets down the range. The throng held their breath as the last two cans hit the floor.
“It’s a draw!” Pierce exclaimed in disbelief.
The crowd seemed to be somewhat displeased with the result, as evidenced by the lack of cheering. Many of them had taken bets on a winner.
“Bullshit! My can hit the floor first!” The demoness protested, waving her empty gun around.
“It’s not whose can hits the floor first, it’s who hits the can first, which was me!” Her second in command argued.
“Oh brother,” Pierce uttered as he shook his head.
“I hit it first!” She angrily stepped towards him.
“No, I did!” He met her energy, also taking a step forward.
The height difference between the two became apparent as they stood chest to chest. Despite wearing heels, the Boss was still a good head shorter than him. He coolly glanced down at her, looking over his glasses while she looked up with an annoyed pout.
“You both hit your final can at the exact same time, it’s a tie!” Pierce tried to reason with them, but they didn’t pay him any attention.
Kate quietly watched as they continued to bicker.
“Holy shit!” Johnny noticed the large amount of bullet casings and the two empty magazines on the floor where she had stood,
“how many guns were you firing, six?”
She crossed her arms, “As long as I take my targets down, who cares how many shots it takes?”
“Your bank account,” he remarked.
“I get my ammo from the enemies I kill, it’s actually very sustainable,” she corrected him with a smug grin.
“Looting corpses or not, this shit's wasteful,” he waved off her argument, then turned around, “this is what efficiency and peak performance looks like.”
His leader’s eyes followed his hand movement and landed on the few casings that were scattered on the ground from where he had been firing.
Her eyes widened when she counted the amount of brass.
“...ten, eleven, twelfth….thirteen!” She finished taking count, raising an accusing finger at him.
“Oh, shit,” he held up his hands in defense, “so you can count over ten.”
“Fuck you! How's there thirteen casings? One magazine only holds twelve!” Before he had time to answer she realized why, which she vocalized with a shocked gasp, “You cheated!”
“I didn’t cheat, fuck off!” He rebutted, “There was no rule against having a round chambered.”
“Cheater, cheater, gourd eater!” She pressed her index finger against his firm chest.
“It’s pumpkin eater,” he corrected her with a sigh.
“He’s right,” Pierce spoke up, this time getting them both to actually acknowledge him, ”it’s pumpkin eater- I mean, there’s nothing against having a round chambered along a full magazine.”
“Tch,” the short girl scoffed as she spun around on her heel and stomped away from him, towards the hideout, shoving those in the crowd aside who stood in her path, “Whatever.”
Kate didn’t care too much about the results of their little competition. Instead, this little show had taught her an important lesson.
The blonde glanced down at the holster on her leg that carried her trusty revolver. It could only hold six shots, with no way of chambering a seventh. This gun had done her well so far, but maybe it was time for an upgrade.
“Guess this didn’t solve a thing,” Scars snapped her out of her thought.
“Huh, wha-?” The blonde was confused as to what he meant.
“They’re back where they started,” he explained, “arguing about trivial shit that doesn’t matter.”
“I think they’ll always find something new to fight over,” Kate agreed with him.
“Alright, I already set this all up, so y’all can clean up now,” Pierce ordered the crew to dispose of the cans that were scattered all over the ground, which got the disappointed crowd moving and getting to work.
“Doesn’t do much for morale having the people at the top go at it all the time,” Scars had a serious look on his face, one she mirrored before it softened into a light smile.
“Guess so,” Kate shrugged in response after Johnny walked past them, following the Boss inside, “I think they’ll be fine.”