The Beanie Boy

Chapter 03

"That's ridiculous, Max! She's great! Why would you leave her on such a little thing?" asked the tall and handy Asian soldier with neck long jet black hair and thin, piercing black eyes.
"No, El, I thought she was my type. But now I'm sure as hell she's not! Why the hell did I tell you this anyway? You don't listen." The big and muscular guy with short brown hair and a scar across his left chin shrugged while stuffing his gear in his pockets. El gave out a slight low giggle.
"I'm the one that listens smartass! You wouldn't be here if I didn't hear the ticking of that bomb you failed to locate!" El smirked.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. It's not like you're the arrow. Stop acting like him for god's sake!" Max said while loading his pistol with ammo. "What are these paralyzers for? I thought it's gonna be a dirty city?" Max held a puzzled look on the needle like bullets on his box of ammunition.

"It's a grab and run. We don't want any casualties on this mission," Jeff said while dropping few large photographs on the table. "It's a boy. He always wears a beanie. And it's the same beanie, everyday. Shouldn't be hard to spot," Jeff said. The two armed soldiers in full black suits shared glances at each other and sighed.

"Paranormal," both the soldiers spat out at once.

"You're damn right! And this could go crazy if the boy gets angry. That's why we want those bullet replacements. 'Casualty minimisation' was just shit talk from boss. We are gonna bring war to them, and people get hurt in war," the black man turned on a serious face and continued, "You boys grab anything you want. Just forget about clearance. It's on me." The two soldiers smiled.

"Man I love this guy!" Max said seconds after Jeff left. "You know what he meant right?"
"No dude, not this time. I really want to do this one the military style. Crossy is just my thing. I get to decide when to use 'my things'," El said.
"Yeah, definitely dude! Your things, your way!" Max chuckled.

.
El is a crossbow expert and a great hunter. He is also good in the old style 'bow & arrow' but he's too slow reloading in that case. He calls all crossbows 'crossy' as he thinks they are a kinda cute. That is ex-military mentality. El was also one of the most accurate snipers in the army.

Max, on the other hand, is completely the opposite. He is a melee fighter. He loves hand-to-hand combat, literally. Whenever he gets into a fist fight, he's all "yee-haw". He's also a good gunner and is as tough as a bear, because he actually has fought one and killed it.

As a duo, they're almost unstoppable, and so they are here, playing the role of a whole squad.
.

The two young ex-military soldiers crawled up in the van and triple checked their equipment.
"All set," both of them confirmed. Jeff, who was opposite to their seat nodded. He was wearing some armour and had a pistol ready for his own protection. Who would dare to rely on kids anyway?

The vehicle started moving.

"Okay, so here's the basic strategy. We have three possible locations of which the boy could be living. But we can never be exact on these information. So we'll be searching until we find him, and bring him. Any questions?" Jeff asked.
"Obviously, Jeff," Max said sarcastically. "Why are we armed?"
"Oh, that's only because there could be a few heavily armed men. There could be a lot. We just can't know for sure. Have to find out on our own," Jeff said lightly.
"Are we freakin' fighting rebels? What if they have like... bazookas?" Max complained. His voice sounded bitter and uncertain.
"He has a point. We can't possibly have a strategy without knowing our enemy," said El.
"Oh hi Lang! Didn't see you here. Thought you were in Tokyo," said Jeff in a rejuvenated voice.
"I'm an American, sir. I live in New York," replied El.
"Oh, but you look Chinese," Jeff said.
"I look like a Japanese, sir! And I'm a Japanese-American. My dad is an American," El replied with a tempted tone, but still keeping his respect steady.