Frigid Night and Fire Frenzy returned to the bureau, unsure of what to tell the Mentor.
“Alright, here’s the deal,” Fire Frenzy started on the way. “You lost the Templar while I tried to fight my way through dozens of drunken patrons.”
“That doesn’t sound any bit true…” Frigid speculated. “Maybe we just tell her the truth.”
Fire Frenzy scoffed at the idea, but didn’t have any better ideas to use, so they stuck with the truth in the end.
They arrived outside the Mentor’s office, debating on who should knock first.
“You knock, Frigid. You’re the newbie.”
“I’m an apprentice now actually…”
“Same thing. Go on. Knock.”
Frigid conceded. He headed to the door and rapped on it with his knuckles. After a few seconds, the door opened, revealing the Mentor’s lieutenant, sturdy and strong like always.
“Star Lance,” Frigid said. “We’re back from the mission. We’re here to report to Mentor.”
“Course you are,” Star Lance said with a low tone. “Well, come inside.”
The Mentor’s office was a lot smaller than Frigid Night remembered, although he chalked that up to his prior inexperience. The room was warm and well-lit by an electric chandelier, with pieces of antique furniture arranged elegantly to make the best of the confined space. Setting foot onto the plush red carpet, the two Assassins bowed as the Mentor stood up from her desk and approached them.
“Mentor,” Fire Frenzy called. “We’ve got information on the Templar we’re following.”
“High Noon,” Frigid added in. “That’s his name.”
“Right. Anyway, we followed him to a bar that we suspected was a Templar outpost. After conducting research, we found it was just a regular bar. The Templar, High Noon, was only there for a drink.”
“He was being hunted.” Frigid budged in. “By his own people. One of the Wood family, Ash Wood, was trying to kill him.”
“Did he succeed?” the Mentor asked.
Fire Frenzy shook his head. “No, Mentor. He… got away in the chaos. Frigid Night here attacked Ash Wood. I created a fight for Frigid’s safety, but both Templars escaped.”
The Mentor gave little reaction to their report, as though they had stopped by to tell her of the weather outside. Frigid Night’s attention was drawn to her hair, which sparkled and shone with myriad shades of purple, more colourful than anyone he had ever seen. Even under the hood, he could tell she was far more elegant than even those actresses, like the rising star, Ebony Wings, that Mirror Match criticized when they had gone to the mall.
Realizing that he was probably staring and being rude, Frigid redirected his eyes to the other side of the room, where a wall of bookshelves acted as a backdrop to a magnificent four-poster bed, separated from the rest of the room by beautifully painted dividers.
“Good work,” the Mentor said at last. “You may go.”
Star Lance stepped forward, beckoning for them to leave. “You heard her. She’s got things to do. You best be off.”
Frigid Night followed Fire Frenzy out as Star Lance closed the door behind them.
“Not bad kid,” Fire Frenzy said. “But you shouldn’t stare at the Mentor like that. It’s a bit rude, don’t you think? You don’t want to make her mad. And besides, you have Mirror Match already."
“Yeah, sorry,” the apprentice said, scratching his head. “It’s just… her hair’s different. It’s… wow. You know? Is she even human?”
Fire Frenzy patted him on the shoulder before walking off. “Well, she is the Mentor. She’s on a different level anyway.”
Unable to do anything at the moment, Frigid set off, deciding to look for Mirror Match. Over the year, he’d grown closer to his partner. Without her, he felt he was missing something.
Maybe she’s done something more interesting.
“Yo, Spectral,” Frigid called, finding the first person he could.
Spectral Rim was an Assassin from Trottingham as well, being here six years longer than Frigid had. She had turquoise hair with pale yellow streaks in it, tied up into a braid. She was one of the few female Assassins who decided to wear skirts instead of pants, the reason being that it was easier to run in them.
Frigid didn’t deny that, but having a skirt also meant showing more skin.
Spectral Rim turned around to see the young Assassin walking up to her. “Frigid Night. What is it you need?”
“Just wondering if you’ve seen Mirror Match.”
"Miss your partner, huh?" Spectral put a hand to her chin as she thought. She widened her eyes and smiled as she remembered. “She’s in the library. Dust Fencer sent her there for some learning into the old texts.”
“Ah… alright. Thanks.”
Frigid headed towards the library. He remembered when Dust Fencer made his read up on the Assassin history. It wasn’t something he wanted to do again. Dust Fencer had to wake him three times as he learnt up his history.
The apprentice approached the main doors of the library. Stepping into the huge hall of the library, Frigid remembered what a magnificent collection of books the Assassins had. There were three floors, with shelves outlining the walls along the corner, and some shelves in the middle, separated by little aisles where they could pick out the books they wanted to read. On each floor, there were tables for the Assassins to sit at, after picking out something to read.
Frigid quickly found Mirror Match, seated at one of the tables on the first floor, a pile of books in front of her. She had yet to notice him, so he snuck around her, careful not to make too much noise in the quiet library. Approaching from behind, he pushed forward as fast as he could, earning a yelp and a jump from his partner.
She turned around, see who it was. “Frigid Night! What do you think you’re doing?”
Her volume earned her a “Shhh!” from the other Assassins trying to read.
“Sorry,” Frigid whispered, but couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “You’re an Assassin. You’re supposed to know when someone’s sneaking up on you.”
She puffed her face at him. “Well, you’re an Assassin. You’re supposed to be able to sneak up on people.”
“Guess we know who the better Assassin is, right?” Frigid chuckled.
“Oh, shut your mouth, Frigid!” she said, but started laughing.
He pulled over a chair and sat next to her. “So… how’s the history lesson coming along?”
“Huh…” she sighed, letting out some air. “Not… what I hoped it’d be like.”
“Ha,” Frigid said, checking out the books she took. “Well, I felt like that when Dust made me learn up on the history. I told him, ‘we don’t need to learn history! What matters is what we do in the field.’ Of course, it didn’t spare me from the books I had to read.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “This doesn’t seem very necessary… It’s given that we should already know Assassin history, right?”
“Well, not exactly, but he did say that it’ll come in handy one day.”
“I’m sure it will…” she sighed. “Well, I hope that day’s soon. Otherwise it feels like I’m wasting away here.”
“It’s just about dinner time,” Frigid told her. “How about we take a break and get some food?”
“Like old times huh?” she smiled, closing the book she was reading. “Sure. But first, help me put all these back.”
High Noon woke up, dazed and confused. He turned to look around, getting a splitting pain all over his head. He grabbed for it before realizing where he was. He was in a toilet cubicle. His vision was still blurry, but he could make out the white throne he sat on and the thin walls on his sides, with a similar one as a door in front of him.
“Hmm…?” he muttered, wiping his face with the palm of his hand.
He didn’t remember going to a restroom. High Noon tried to get up, but as he tried to move to the door, his vision started swaying, sending him crashing to the ground.
“Ugh…” he gasped as he fought to stand up.
Last he remembered, he was sitting in a bar drinking. He had disappointed Mahogany too many times. He remembered Mahogany’s brother, Ash, pointing a gun towards him. Then he remembered walking out of the bar, but that was it.
“Must have gone to the toilet to relieve my stomach,” he assumed.
High Noon rubbed his head again, trying to steel himself from the pain. Eventually, he found the strength to get up. He stood up and wobbled for a bit before undoing the lock of the toilet cubicle. He walked out slowly into the white floors of the toilet, keeping his hands on the cubicle walls to stop himself from falling again. He made his way over to the nearest sink. He turned the tap on, cupped some water in his hands, and dipped his face into his hands, feeling the coolness of the water calm him down. High Noon turned off the tap and stared at himself in the mirror. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, but it might very well have been the opposite.
Feeling more refreshed after the wash, High Noon slowly made his way towards the toilet exit, opening the door into familiar surroundings. There was a single straight, broad road leading past a row of buildings on either side of it. Desert surrounded the town, sand and tumbleweed swishing along the roads as the strong winds blew. High Noon knew exactly where he was.
“What am I doing back in Appleloosa?”
“That’s it, huh?” Frigid asked her as he took another bite of his steak.
“Yeah!” she yelled with laughter. “Didn’t you know? Silent Frame always talks about it.”
“Well… I haven’t really talked to her,” Frigid told her. Silent Frame was one of those Assassins that seemed to prefer books over people.
“You should!” Mirror said, finishing up the last of her dinner. “She’s a nice person.”
“Sounds like it.”
“How’d your mission go with Fire Frenzy?” she asked. “I know he doesn’t take to new Assassins very well.”
“Yeah…” Frigid nodded, finishing his steak. “He doesn’t trust in my ability very much, although, it did seem that he’s starting to learn what I can do.”
“That’s a start!” Mirror smiled. She stood up, ready to take her empty plate away. “Ready to go?”
“Hold up,” Frigid said, picking up his cup and draining its contents in a gulp. “Alright. I’m ready.”
They picked up their plates and cups and headed for the sink. Being Assassins and all, they didn’t have cleaners around to wash up after them, so they had to wash the utensils themselves.
“So, what are you going to do now?” she asked. “I was going to head to the cinema or something. Catch a movie.”
“This late?” Frigid asked as he scraped the sauce off his plate.
“Yeah,” Mirror nodded. “No big deal. As long as they don’t need us to do anything. Want to come with?”
Frigid thought about it as he finished washing up his plate, moving on to his knife and fork. He had wanted to spend some time with his partner. “I don’t see why not.”
“Awesome!” she screeched happily. “We can head there after we finish washing up.”
“Alright, but in our Assassin gear?”
“It’s late, and the cinema is dark. No one’s gonna notice a couple of hoods in there.”
“Fine by me,” Frigid replied, finally finishing the washing process. “And if any Templars show up, we’ll be ready for them.”
“Yes we will,” she smiled.
After putting their food items in their proper baskets, Frigid Night and Mirror Match headed out the front door, walking down the street towards the cinema. They kept their hoods down, just in case they drew too much attention.
“Well, you don’t look all that suspicious,” Frigid told her as they walked, seeing as her coat looked like any other coat that people wear. He looked back at his. His coat had two tactical pockets on his chest for easy access to smoke bombs and knives. “Mine doesn’t look so… normal.”
“No sweat, Frigid. Nobody’s going to pay attention to two pockets.”
“I’m hoping so,” he said, wanting to agree with her.
The night was quiet. Few people walked the streets, probably heading home before it got too late. A few cars drove by them every few minutes, speeding down the streets to who knows where.
Suddenly, a movement caught Frigid’s eye, turning his head towards the darkness of one of the rooftops.
“Did you see that?” he asked, suddenly tensed.
“See what?” she asked, looking around the streets.
Frigid stared harder at the rooftops, waiting for something to move, but nothing happened. “Hmm… thought I saw something. On one of the rooftops.”
“Might be the shadows playing tricks on you,” she chuckled.
Frigid was about to believe that, but being an Assassin, he was ready for the possibilities. It was then that he felt the wind move above his head. Frigid quickly pushed Mirror Match towards one of the buildings to her shock, before he moved to the side. An eagle flew past them, slashing its claws at the air.
“What?” Mirror Match said in surprise. “Are we being attacked?”
“I believe so,” Frigid warned as he readied for the eagle to attack again. “That belongs to Dagger Wind. Ex-military turned mercenary. He keeps a pet eagle, trained to kill as well.”
“So that was his…” she speculated. She pulled out her dagger and got her stance ready.
“Able to dodge like that…” a voice said from a nearby alcove. “You’ve got to be an Assassin.”
Dagger Wind stepped out from the alcove, calling his eagle back down to his arm. “You tried, Aero. Good enough.”
Frigid saw that the eye patch over his right eye was a new accessory.
“Nice eye patch,” he said, trying to taunt Dagger Wind. “Did we give that to you?”
Dagger Wind’s face instantly grew red as he burned with anger. “Don’t talk about the eye!”
He quickly pulled out his two SMGs and pointed them at Frigid and Mirror. Frigid opened his pocket and threw a smoke bomb down, engulfing the immediate area in smoke.
“What?” Dagger Wind shouted through the smoke. “Do you think this will help you?”
Frigid Night quickly directed Mirror Match away as the first SMG bullets started pelting the floor around them. They managed to get out unscathed, but devised a plan to get to a better location to take down the mercenary.
“We should get to higher ground,” Mirror Match told her partner. “Then it’ll be all over for him.”
“Agreed. Why not this building.”
Frigid pointed to the red building next to them, showing her a ladder that led to the bottom of a fire escape.
“Perfectly placed,” Mirror nodded and ran for the ladder.
Frigid followed behind her, jumping for the ladder as soon as she reached the fire escape. She helped him up the last rung as they both continued up the fire escape. The metal stairs led them to the roof of the building, allowing them to look down at the smoke and the mercenary.
Mirror proceeded forward, but Frigid stopped her just in time.
“What?” she asked. “Why’d you stop?”
He smiled at her, even though there were killers after them. “You gotta watch your footing.”
He pointed down, revealing to her a faint red laser, leading from one end of the roof, to a little rectangular piece of clay.
“Explosives…” she realized.
“Look out!” Frigid shouted, getting her to run forward as a round metal object landed at their feet.
Frigid Night grabbed Mirror Match and leapt behind a condenser as the grenade exploded, taking out the plastique along with a chunk of the roof.
“Some people aren’t going to be happy…” Mirror Match muttered, eyeing the destruction. “Anyway, thanks for the save, Frigid.”
“Still alive, Assassins?” a voice called from beyond their cover.
Mirror Match looked over the condenser, seeing a woman in a red jacket approaching their location, a few plastic explosives in her hands.
“I’ve got more to give!” the woman shouted, looking around for the hooded Assassins.
She ducked back down behind the condenser. “She’s got more explosives.”
Frigid shook his head. “High Noon didn’t mention anything about this woman. She must be new.”
“Or… he was lying.”
Frigid shook his head again. “Strange enough, I trust him. I’m not sure what it is, but I feel like I know he’s telling the truth.”
“If you say so,” Mirror Match told him. “But what are we going to do about Ms. Explosives here?”
Frigid looked around for anything they could use to distract the bomber. If he could distract her for a few seconds, he could get to her position without her noticing and take her out.
He was about to suggest something to Mirror Match when he felt claws slash his head.
“Frigid!” Mirror shouted a warning, but a little too late.
Frigid grabbed for Aero as the eagle slashed at his exposed head, drawing blood from the top of his scalp.
“Yeowch!” he shouted as he fought the bird above his head.
He unsheathed both his hidden blades and stabbed towards the bird. He missed the first two times before Aero flew off into the night, leaving him holding his head, trying to stop the blood flow.
“That eagle sure cut deep,” Mirror Match told him as she inspected his head.
“Thanks, Dagger!” the woman shouted. “I’ve got their position now.”
Mirror Match heard a thunk as another grenade landed at their feet. This time, she grabbed Frigid and ran as fast as she could, while pulling him, to the next piece of cover. She got halfway to a chimney before the grenade exploded, taking out the condenser and propelling them a few inches forward.
“Almost gotcha, Assassins!” the woman continued to taunt. “I’ve got more where that came from! No one survives Volatile! She’s way too… volatile! Ha!”
Mirror looked at Volatile from behind cover again, checking just how many explosives she still had. Under her jacket, she had two sashes of charges all along her body, and a belt full of grenades around her waist.
“She’s right,” Mirror told her partner. “She’s got waaaay more.”
“Perfect,” Frigid smiled, pulling his hood over his head to stop the blood from dripping down his face. “I’ve got just the plan. Either we need fire… or we have to be very lucky.”
Mirror Match checked her pockets, finding nothing that produced fire or anything similar. “I haven’t got any fire.”
“Looks like we’ll have to be lucky then.”
Frigid leaned out to judge the distance between Volatile and themselves. She stood about ten feet away, readying another grenade to throw at them.
He ducked back behind cover and quickly explained his plan to Mirror before Volatile lobbed the explosive towards them. Mirror Match agreed to his plan as they sprinted in different directions from their cover. The grenade exploded behind them as they got to separate sides of Volatile.
“I see Aero!” Mirror Match warned from her side.
“Got it!” Frigid acknowledged, looking to the skies for the dreaded eagle to swoop back in.
Frigid made a dash for Volatile as Aero swooped in, its claws aiming straight for the red stained hood on Frigid’s head. Frigid turned around and slashed his hidden blade at the bird as its claws reached his head. He cut a gash across the eagle’s legs, forcing a screech from it as it flew off unsteadily.
“Aero!” he heard the anguished scream of Dagger Wind, realizing his pet was wounded.
He returned his attention to Volatile, whom Mirror Match had gotten the attention of while he took on Aero.
“Here’s some more!” the killer shouted as she threw another grenade to Mirror Match’s location.
Mirror had turned Volatile away from Frigid. Seeing his chance, Frigid made a straight line towards the explosive woman, unsheathing both hidden blades as he approached her. Right as he jumped at her to deal the final blow, she turned around, noticing the change of wind. She ran towards him, crouched, and pushed up with her hands, knocking the aerial Assassin off balance. Frigid struggled to control his landing as he fell in front of Volatile.
“Thought that would work, huh?” she taunted, kicking him in the side, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Frigid clutched at his side, but managed to show her what he held in his other hand. Grenade pins.
Realization dawned on Volatile as she checked her belt. Two grenade pins were missing, and she still had a ton of explosives on her.
“That’s right,” Frigid smiled, getting as far away from her as he could.
Without another word, Volatile ignited in a huge firestorm of an explosion, taking out a whole portion of the roof.
Mirror walked over to Frigid and helped him up. “Nice work, Frigid. That was pretty cool. You doing alright?”
Frigid gave her a high five. “Just need to catch my breath.”
“We really should head back. I’m sure the cops are on their way now. And we don’t want any angry residents getting a good look at us.”
“Where’s Dagger Wind?”
“I think I saw him run off after you wounded Aero.”
Frigid nodded and smiled. “Alright. That takes care of this. We better go.”
Mirror helped him stand as they made their way back to the bureau. “Looks like we’ll have to catch that movie some other time.”
Wolfgang watched the fire from the shadows of a nearby tree. Once again, he had learnt much from watching the Assassins instead of engaging them. Sure, some people like Dagger Wind didn’t agree with his methods, but they would soon prove to be useful.
“Too bad for Volatile…” he muttered to himself as he stood up to leave.
“Wolfey,” Dagger Wind called on the radio. “Where are you?”
Wolfgang gritted his teeth as he heard the word ‘Wolfey’. He looked around for Dagger Wind, seeing him right below the tree he was hiding in. “Right above you, Dagger.”
Dagger Wind looked up as Wolfgang dropped down, smiling to himself as he startled the mercenary. All he got was a punch from Dagger.
“What was that?” Wolfgang demanded as he rubbed his cheek.
Dagger Wind walked to the downed killer menacingly. “Once again, you did nothing while we fought! Aero got hurt because of you!”
“I’m sure you’re used to your bird getting wounded,” Wolfgang told him. “I mean, he couldn’t have survived all these years without injury, yes?”
“But you could have prevented that injury!” Dagger Wind barked back, pulling out one of his SMGs on the killer.
Wolfgang eyed the gun, and then eyed the man wielding it. “You think this gun’ll help you, Dagger Wind?”
“Try me.”
Wolfgang was about to pull out his knife, but the entrance of Smokey Flames and Pressure Point stopped his hand.
“What’s all this nonsense going on?” Pressure Point asked demandingly. She looked to both of them. “You two fighting again?”
“This… imbecile just refuses to join the fight!” Dagger Wind shouted, pointing his SMG at Wolfgang. “Because of him, Aero is injured.”
“Well, where is he now?” Smokey asked.
Dagger pointed to a tree with his other hand. “There. I bandaged him up, but it could have been avoided!”
“As I have been telling Dagger,” Wolfgang said to the two females. “It’s not like I’m doing nothing. I’m studying my prey.”
“You!” Dagger Wind started again, but Smokey Flames stepped in front of him and knocked him down.
“Stop!” she shouted, turning to Wolfgang as well. “We’re meant to kill the Assassins! Not each other. Not yet anyway. We should head back and give Lumberjack the news. He’ll be happy to know that we killed two more Assassins.”
“At least you got something,” Wolfgang continued. “Dagger Wind and Volatile didn’t.”
“Please, Wolfgang,” Smokey said. “Don’t start again.”
“Alright, alright.” He surrendered. “Let’s just get back and get the reports over with. I’ll settle this with you, Dagger Wind, when all this is done.”
“Frigid, Mirror! You’re both fine!” Dust Fencer said, approaching the two Assassins as they returned through the front doors of the bureau. “I heard about the attack from Star Lance. Nice to see you two handled yourselves alright.”
“Well, I did,” Mirror told him, giving him a big smile. “Frigid here got himself some injuries. I’m taking him straight to Dr. Patch.”
“That’d be a good idea.” Dust Fencer agreed as he checked out Frigid’s head wounds. “Who knows what else that eagle might have clawed.”
“Frigid!” he heard Rose Petal shout.
He turned to see the red haired Assassin walking towards him, giving him a wave. “You alright?”
“Yeah, no big deal. It’s just a flesh wound.”
“That’s my boy!” she cheered. She reached for his head to mess with his hair, but stopped inches from it as he recoiled from her.
“Watch the head, remember?” Frigid reminded her.
“Right sorry,” Rose smiled. She opted to give him a hug before leaving. “Take care of yourselves.”
“Time for the doctor for you, partner,” Mirror Match said as she brought him over to the medic station.
Dr. Patch treated his wounds, spraying some disinfectant. Frigid Night flinched as the spray touched his open wounds, but it was for the better. After cleaning it and adding a little stitching, the doctor bandaged it up and let Frigid go. To Patch, injuries were just day to day experiences. After all these years, she’d already treated hundreds of Assassins.
“Thanks, doc,” Frigid grinned. “Good to have you around the bureau.”
“Anytime, apprentince. You two take care.”
“We should really get back to training,” Frigid suggested. “We haven’t done so in a while. I let that eagle catch me off guard.”
“Good idea, Frigid,” she nodded. “Training’s always good. But… you're hurt. You should rest.”
“Of course,” Frigid said. “But I really need to work on my skills if we are ever to reach the rank of Master Assassin.”
“Do you think we’ll ever get there?” Mirror asked. “It’s a long way to go.”
“Think positively!” Frigid nudged her.
With that said, Mirror walked Frigid to his room. If they were going to take down the Templars and get the artifact, they were going to need to get much better, but a little rest never hurt anyone.
High Noon had wandered around Appleloosa, trying to remember what he was doing back in his hometown. He didn’t even know why he woke up in the toilet, but he did realize his wallet was a little short on money. He decided it best to head home. Since he was in Appleloosa, he might as well visit his old place.
“High Noon? That you?"
High Noon turned around to see an old friend with light orange hair, sporting a Stetson on his head.
“Braeburn?” High Noon asked, getting a nod from his friend.
“Where’d ya been, partner? Ah’d thought ya’d left fer the big city! And just what happened to that accent o’ yours?”
“Well, being in the city has probably changed the way I talk,” High Noon started. “Anyway, this morning, I found myself back here.”
“Well now, perhaps you’ve had a bit too much to drink?”
“Perhaps…” High Noon remembered. “I remember drinking a little.”
“Well, glad to have ya back in Appleloosa!” Braeburn cheered. Suddenly, he looked like he remembered something. “Oh yeah, Noon! Ya left yer hat here. Ah was thinkin’ about gettin’ it to ya, but ah guess ah never did get around to it.”
“Thanks for the thought,” High Noon told his friend. “I think I ought to head back there now.”
“C’mon,” Braeburn told him, walking a few steps ahead. “Ah’ll walk with ya. Good time to do some catchin’ up, you think?”