With his time in Bean Town clearly dwindling into single digits, Killer needed to find a way out of town fast. And it didn't help that not only the Bean Town police was after him, but that there might be another highly-trained assassin on his tail, too.
But in order to get out with as many guns as possible, he needed to retrieve the police van he stole from the storage unit. Even if it hadn't been there for long, he was still slightly surprised no one found it by now. Still, he won't take his luck for granted, especially with how shitty it's been lately.
To attempt to find an area to slip past the guards, Killer took a sniper rifle with him and headed to the rooftop of the tallest building he could access. The only thing of interest he could spot was some sort a festival traveling down a large street, surrounded by huge crowds with loud music playing. He couldn't see any police officers or cruisers near the festival, so this could be his chance.
But just as Killer was going to stand and leave, he froze when he heard the roof access door open and shut abruptly. He turned slowly to find another bean standing just a few feet away from him; they were wearing a grey bullet-proof armor, a backwards baseball cap atop their head, and a bandana to cover the lower half of their face.
Not wanting to startle the masked bean in case they were armed, Killer slowly rose to his feet without ever taking his eyes off of their light brown gaze. They never spoke or moved the whole time, and just stared right back.
"What do you want, punk?" Killer finally asked, but the stranger remained silent.
Killer's eyes squinted in annoyance, "Ya know, it's pretty stupid ta walk up to a guy with a sniper rifle all on your own. Seriously, what was your plan when you got up here?"
The masked bean still didn't speak, but they slowly started walking towards him. Killer abandoned the sniper rifle and reached for his pistols, but that allowed the stranger to strike. They kicked a leg out and swept it underneath Killer, causing him to trip and fall on his back. Before Killer could regain his bearings, the stranger grabbed his feet and spun him around to daze him even more. When he started to slow down, the masked bean kicked him into the wall. With him stunned long enough, the stranger reach into his pockets and pulled out a set of car keys.
It wasn't until the dizziness faded from Killer's head that he realized they stole the keys to the police van, and they proudly strutted away with the keys twirling around their index finger. Killer reached for one of his pistols and finally fired, but the stranger somehow managed to dodge the bullet with a simple tilt of their head.
They turned to look back at Killer, and creases formed under their eyes as if they were smiling. This tried Killer's last shred of patience, so he leapt up to try a more hands-on approach. Unfortunately, the masked bean pulled out a grappling gun, and fired at another building without looking. Just before Killer could grab them, the masked bean simply fell backwards and let the grappling hook swing them to the next building.
They somersaulted upon landing and retracted the hook of their grappling gun, but gave Killer one last look and raised their hand with a "come at me" motion.
"Oh-ho, now we're talkin'!" Killer chuckled darkly, and stepped back a couple yards to get a running start.
Once he was far enough, he sprinted towards the edge and leapt across to the next rooftop. He landed with a somersault like the masked bean, who was already on their way to jump to the next building. But they stopped at the edge and taunted Killer again, holding the keys up in one hand and placing their other hand on their hip confidently.
Killer lunged at the stranger, attempting to kick them in the face. But they back flipped out the way at the last second, finally going over the edge and disappearing. Killer ran up to the edge and peered over to look for them, but they were nowhere in sight.
The stranger tried to trick Killer and sneak back up to the rooftop, and approach from behind for a sneak attack. But Killer's instincts and years of training kicked in, and he whipped to jab his elbow in their face. Surprisingly, they still didn't make a sound, but they did recoil back and rub their head in pain.
Killer didn't wait long enough for them to recollect themselves, and struck them two more times in the head and stomach. He then gave them a taste of their own medicine by swiping their legs out from underneath, and lifted a leg to stomp on their torso. But the masked bean kicked him right between the legs, hitting a sensitive spot and instantly halting his movement.
As Killer grabbed his crotch in pain, the stranger locked their legs around his sides and used their upper body strength to roll backwards and toss him over edge. Despite not being able to expect this, Killer was quick to grab their legs and take them down with him. Killer angled himself as they fell so that he could wrap his arms around the stranger in a chokehold, but they pulled at his grasp with one hand while once again firing their grappling gun with the other.
But since they didn't have the time or focus to aim properly, they swung into the side of a building and landed in an empty dumpster. Since they landed on the unforgiving bottom of the dumpster, both of them had the wind knocked out of them and coughed loudly. The masked bean was first to stand and retract the grappling hook, all while hunching over and holding their bruised torso with their free hand.
"You…are one…crazy bastard," Killer strained between huffs, as he slowly stood back up and pulled out his golden pistols, "I'm done dicking around…so, please…give me back my keys."
The masked bean's eyes squinted into a glare, and stuffed the keys into a pocket and reached for something else. Killer noticed this and cocked his guns, but the stranger kept their hands behind their back. A few more seconds passed, and the stranger finally whipped out a different weapon: Two silver pistols.
"These are much better odds," Killer stated sarcastically.
However, the stranger quickly retaliated by shooting at a corner of the dumpster, causing the bullet to ricochet and distract Killer long enough for them to leap out of the dumpster. It wasn't until Killer followed soon after that they realized they were alone anymore, for the alley they were now in was accompanied by some homeless people with instruments of their own for the festival in the streets.
The two didn't pay them any mind, however, and their new "spectators" didn't seem to care that they were witnessing a gunfight either. They stared each other down, keeping each other's guns pointed directly at the other's face with their trigger fingers at the ready. Unfortunately, the shot that the stranger fired in the dumpster earlier seemed to attract the attention of the police, as was evident when they heard sirens fast approaching.
"Alright, listen. I'm not going to jail, and you've still got my keys. So, what do ya say we lower our weapons, and go somewhere else and talk like civilized people?" Killer calmly suggested, even making sure to put his guns away in their holsters to emphasize his point.
His plan seemed to work as the masked bean eventually lowered their guns a little, allowing him to snatch an acoustic guitar from the nearest person and whack the stranger right in the head. As the hollow insides of the guitar echoed from impact, the masked bean hunched over, grabbed their head with both hands and groaned loudly in agony.
But the longer they groaned, the lighter their voice became until it sounded completely feminine. This surprised and intrigued everyone, especially Killer, as the stranger eventually straightened up and yanked their bandana down. The full and glossy lips of a now-obvious female bean was finally revealed, making everyone gasp.
"You hit me in the head with a guitar?!" she exclaimed in anger.
"We were in a gun fight. A guitar is the least lethal thing I could've hit you with," Killer quickly protested, just barely able to contain his surprise at the fact that his opponent was a woman.
"Ooh, this is getting good!" one of the bystanders laughed, to which the female bean rolled her eyes and shot him in the head soon after.
"I'm not stickin' around for this shit," the female scoffed, and started running deeper into the alley when the sirens got closer, "Better hurry up, Guitar Hero!"
Killer growled at the ironic nickname for the current situation, and quickly shot the remaining witnesses before disappearing down the alley after the female. The two disappeared just before the cops came running into the alley, and were only greeted with a bloody mess of homeless beans.
He followed the echoing footsteps of the female through a maze of alleyways, and eventually came upon a metal fence blocking his path. He figured if this female was smart, she would have jumped this fence to up her chances of escape.
So, he started climbing the fence as fast as he could, and struggled even more when he heard the cops' voices and running footsteps getting louder. His fear of getting caught got the best of him when he reached the top of the fence, and accidentally lost his footing and caused the tank top underneath his vest to get snagged. He flailed and hung helplessly from the fence, as his back was facing away from the police that finally rounded the corner and found him.
"There he is! Get him!"
A few of the police started firing, but it was either lack of good training or the fence that prevented him from being hit. Trying to shoot back at them in this position would be futile if he couldn't aim, so he merely struggled and reached up to try and free himself.
"Need some help?" came a calm voice, as Killer looked down to find his feminine opponent nonchalantly standing before him.
"No, go away! I'd rather have my brains blown out!" Killer shouted back.
The female chuckled, and pointed her gun at him, "Don't be such a baby."
Without warning, she fired and struck the part of his shirt that was snagged, tearing it apart and finally freeing him as he landed on his hands and knees. She gave him an expectant look while putting her gun away, and Killer's eyes darted between her and the police behind him. He knew he couldn't trust her, but he still needed his keys.
Killer didn't even say another word, as he stood back up and sprinted out of view with the woman. The two ran until they came upon a ladder leading up to a fire escape, and climbed up before taking a moment to catch their breath.
"Who are you….and what the hell do you want?" Killer panted.
"I only needed…to get your…attention," she huffed while taking off the baseball cap and throwing it away, revealing her short, blonde hair. After being stuffed under the hat for so long, she ran her fingers through her hair and went to work on putting it up in a ponytail.
Killer's gaze fell on her hair for a moment, for he was glad she didn't go for the dumb blonde trope, but eventually regained his focus, "You expect me to believe that when you're carrying guns, too?"
"I wasn't actually gonna shoot you. And even if I wanted to, I couldn't."
"Why not?"
"Because you're vital to my mission."
"Your mission? What are you, an agent?"
"I'm just as much of an agent as you were—Shadow Bean."