Here’s the thing: Joe has the shotgun but it’s at the wrong angle to shoot the guy. Also, he has to take a split second to rack the shotgun, but in that split second he’s vulnerable. In that second, Nicky shoots the guy in the foot, which does two things: It buys Joe the time he needs, and also brings the assailant lower, which allows Joe to finish him off. That’s teamwork, folks.
You know what I also really like about this?
I see no reason why Nicky couldn’t have shot the guy in a bit more useful of a location. But he didn’t. Nicky is shown to be and extremely proficient fighter, so I have come to two conclusions regarding this:
1. He shots the guy in the foot on purpose to give Joe a bad ass kill.
2. Nicky loves a dramatic moment.
And I’m not sure which I like more.
Dramatic moment ✅ Cool kill for Joe ✅
Nicky is literally right there with a silenced weapon. Everyone else is just shooting their way through. But nah. Dramatic moment ✅ Cool kill for Joe ✅
I agree with everything, but please consider:
To be 100% sure your opponent is down for good is a very sound battle strategy. Especially when you’re an army of four that only can carry so much ammo.
On the kill floor it’s complete mayhem, they are still healing and their opponents are all wearing heavy body armour, which would make it very hard for the Guard to bring them down with single shots. When Nicky shoots the guy in the foot, he makes sure Joe can finish him off for good as he unsheathes his sword in time to get the guy behind him.
And before, when they are still outside, at first I was really curious about why Nicky was lurking while Joe killed those two, since we know that Nicky ~the sniper~ could have easily shot them both (at the same time and probably with the same bullet) and just be done with it. But Joe’s strategy is not only cool as fuck, it also saves them ammunition and it saves time. The time you take to reload your gun could be fatal in close combat, so it’s much quicker and efficient to do it with a melee weapon if you have the opportunity and at that moment Nicky can give Joe the opportunity.
In the lab, when Nicky tosses that guy over his shoulder, he makes sure their opponent is down long enough for Joe to finish him off with one single bullet while he moves more quickly to the next target. And Nicky knows when Joe is going to need another weapon because he makes the opportunities for him to use his ammo more efficiently. And yes, they could always scavenge for the weapons of their fallen enemies, but that’s not really reliable when you don’t have time to check how much ammo they have left.
I believe more than once they found themselves in situations they needed to be careful with what they had in hand to fight, so they just developed strategies to save ammo, save time, and to protect each other. It’s so efficient and so fluid, it feels almost like a dance and they have been practicing that dance for centuries now.
