Chapter 42

The bar was pretty empty, only the bartender stood behind the counter pouring drinks for a few patrons that dared to attend below the sun set over the mountains.

"Hey there, aren't you a lil young to be in here?"

An older man asked us, standing in the corner of the room. He wore a black pinstripe suit, his silver hair was combed neatly, exposing his rather large forehead.

"We're not here for a drink, sir."

Shinso returned, taking a few steps towards the man. He simply nodded at us before questing us further.

"The shooting club, ehh?"

I saw him eyeing the note in my hand, and I curled it up the second I noticed.

"Yeah, we're here to learn how to shoot."

His blue eyes widened slightly, and am amused smirk played on his face.

"Learn how to shoot...hey, aren't you Aaron's fellas?"

His voice rose a little, turning curious.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

Shinso asked back, leaning against a table with empty glasses lying on it. The man didn't take long to reply.

"Well, Aaron comes here quite often, looking for drinks. He told me that a few new chips joined his group."

"So much for a secret organization."

I grumbled.

"Earlier today I heard Cattleya say to me that this organization is secret when we want it to be, what's that mean?"

The man chuckled a little, exposing his silver teeth, a golden tooth replaced one to the right of his 2 front teeth. 

"But that chump still recruits anyone he can find, it's ironic...anyways, here's your cards to get in."

He ruffled through his chest pocket before pulling out 2 metal cards, they had the words. "Baskers Shooting Club" on the front, and on the back there was a notice indicating that one must return this card to the building upon finding it lost or stolen.

"Hmm, thank you."

We both thanked the man before he pointed down the hallway.

"The shooting range is the third door to the left."

He nodded and let us go, we walked down the hallway but were adrupidly stopped by the sound of him calling out to us.

"Do you kids know what you're doing?"

Shinso turned back to look at him and nodded slowly, a little uncertainty rising in his voice. 

"We do."

He turned back and opened the door into the shooting range, which was a rather large room with wooden floors and walls, and a set of a few metal targets on the other end of the room, sealed off from each other by metal barriers. 

"Alright..."

I took a deep breath in, opening the barrel of the gun and loading in 2 bullets, in case I have an accidental misfire and don't hurt anyone.

"Mind if I have any?"

He asked, walking over to the wall of small handguns perched on the wall like trophies, taking one off the rack. The gun had an expertly crafted wooden shaft, and accents of metal and steel, overall an impressive gun.

He silently reached his hand out, expecting me to hand him a few bullets. I handed him 2 bullets and he put them into the barrel as well.

"Thanks, I'll try not to shoot anything besides the targets."

He chuckled slowly to himself before gripping his gun in his hand, raising it about head level, attempting to meticulously line up the end of the gun with the center of the target, the center of the black ring.

He hesitantly pulled the trigger, sending the bullet flying out of the chamber, it landed square in the center of the target.

"Well, I think you did just that."

I gave him a small smile before cocking my gun, pointing it at the target in front of me, my hand shook slightly, and the fear of the bullet missing and ricocheting all over the place started to flood my mind.

I felt Shinso put his hand on my shoulder, his touch warm and slightly comforting, he put his hands on mine and guided the gun towards the right direction, so it would get a clear shot.

"Now, pull the trigger."

He whispered, I closed my eyes as I pulled the trigger. The sound of the bullet rang out into the air, and that colliding sound that I heard Shinso make with his gun was heard.

I opened my eyes, and they widened in slight delight as I saw the black, burnt hole of the bullet, it landed near the center of the target, but not exactly where I wanted it to go.

"Damn, you did good."

He patted me on the back, his voice had a dap of reassurance and recognition.

"Thanks"

A little blush formed on my face, as I backed up and put the gun on one of the tables in the corner of the room. I looked at the table and saw assorted baskets of food and other accommodations.

"Who's that for?"

A voice rang out in the room as I heard the sound of a door opening and closing.

"That would be mine."

The voice belonged to Carter Shrine, the person that Aaron sent off to visit Oboro's business and bring back any affiliates.

"Fancy seeing you guys here, I suppose that Aaron told you to come here?"

Shinso spoke up, digging his hands in his pockets in an attempt to act nonchalant.

"I suppose you come here too?"

Carter shrugged, a smug expression playing with his face.

"Yeah, I supposed I'd take a visit here after getting groceries and visiting the building."

"About the business, did you find anyone?"

Carter nodded "no."

"Unfortunately the place was deserted, I had the thought of writing a note to indicate that I visited, and tell anyone that worked there to visit a particular address, but that would've blown our cover."

I pulled out a chair from the corner of the room and sat down, pulling the basket of groceries in my direction, peering inside.

"Hungry?"

He asked, a teasing smile on his face.

"Not hungry, I just need to drink."

I shuffled around until I spotted the bottle of green liquid in the bottom of the basket, taking it out before unscrewing the corkscrew cap, and placing it near my lips.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

Carter asked, taking a careful step in my direction, I removed the bottle from my mouth and looked at him with a gaze of puzzlement.

"I suppose no one told you about Control Serum?"

He paused for a few moments before speaking in a confused manner. 

"You're a new seeker?"

I nodded, gulping down the potion like it's a gallon of water.

"I am, Aaron taught me a method on how to control my power about an hour ago, but I'll drink this in the meantime, it's not like I'll have to use these abilities anytime soon."

Carter took this information in a bit of a foreboding way, a little unsure about the truthfulness of my statement.

"Well, whatever Aaron says, I suppose he gave you the option ingredients, or did he just give you the potion?"

I nodded "no."

"No, Officer Palau gave me the potion when he first came to Oboro's apartment to rub the first step of the investigation, and later Aizawa instructed me to head to the market and get ingredients for it. But that led us to Aaron's house, and he took us to the Silencers headquarters."

Carter nodded slowly, then he made a statement regarding our new living situation.

"The silencers headquarters is too small for a living space, since I heard that Oboro's apartment got sealed off to run the investigation, where will you live?"

"Well...are they any more apartments for sale downtown?"

Carter nodded, pulling out a medium sized map from his pocket, before unraveling it on the table and pointing to a section of it.

"Here's downtown, it's about 6 blocks from where we are. The housing is pretty cheap in those areas, but I'd recommend the tenants that aren't in wealthy areas, it may suck but it'll get the job done."

He looked at us and gave a faint smile, like a smile that a father would give his children after they did something good.

"Anyways, you should head to the bank and pull out a loan, or we can ask Aaron when the next payload from the Sample Society will be available."

"Isn't the sample society only used for blood testing, when I first got my blood extracted by Aaron, he told Oboro not to send it there, but instead he'd check it himself."

Carter tilted his head slightly, about to evaluate what I just said.

"Well, the sample society is also one of our secret sponsors, we're not a company by any means, but since we give them the most profitable blood samples, they give us back a large amount of money to allow us to continue our work under the nose of the public."

I nodded.

"Ok, I'll consult him later, anyways..."

I turned to Shinso, a small smile on my face now.

"A few more rounds?"