A Long Way to Fall

by Cinders of War

Chapter 11: One for the Money

"So High Noon managed to get home safely..." Twilight Sparkle smiled. "That's nice. I take it he doesn't stay there, though, seeing as he was with you Assassins later."

"Oh, he does. For quite some time too," Morning Blade said with a nod. "I wish he could've continued on and lived a good long life, but I guess things were just meant to be."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about it all, Morning." Twilight patted the ex-Assassin's arm. "Perhaps we should've checked if Sombra truly was vanquished."

"None of this is your fault, princess. Don't worry yourself. It's all in the past. There's nothing we can do about it now. High Noon and the others... they're all in a better place now, away from all this violence and death."

"I'm sure they are." Twilight nodded and looked down at her notes.

"Well, back to the story, princess." Morning flipped the page of her book. "I'm missing some information here again, but that only means nothing important happens for a while. Ready for the next bit?"

"Go for it, Morning Blade," Twilight said as she gripped her pencil.

---

---

Six months later

“Redwood,” Mahogany called as he sat on his chair, looking out the window at the busy city of Manehattan.

“Yes, brother, what do you need?” the red-brown skinned brother of the Grand Master asked.

“The shipment has arrived. I need you to collect it. After everything that’s happened, with our brethren being killed, the Silver Smile Casino closing down, and that traitorous High Noon betraying us… I need someone I can trust. And I know I can trust family.”

“Right on it, Mahogany. I’ll get my guys together and get the shipment right on back.”

“Right,” Mahogany nodded. “We’ll need that money. Make sure it all gets back here.”

“No sweat, Mahogany. I’ll make sure to kill any Assassins we meet.”

---

“News flash, Assassins.” Pierce Network stood in the center of the meeting room, pointing at the objectives with his baton. “We’ve had reports from our field Assassins that the Templars have a huge shipment of money coming in. It’ll be stopping in the Manehattan docks tonight. We’ll need three groups of Assassins for this. The first group will clear the outer perimeter of patrols. The second group will enter the ship and find the money. You either take it, or burn it. The third group will find the Templar supervisor there. We’ve had reports that Redwood himself is overseeing the shipment. This would be a good chance to cripple the Wood family even more. If these Templars think they’re getting that money tonight, then they’re in for a big surprise. They think that just because they have money, they have the right of control? Well, we’re about to show them otherwise.”

“Did you get all that?” Frigid asked Mirror Match, seated beside him.

“Roughly,” she shrugged.

Star Lance got up and headed to the front as Pierce went back to his seat.

“Assassins,” he began. “It is important we stop this shipment here. If we cut off the Templar’s sources of income, we’d be limiting their operations drastically. Without money, they lose resources. Without resources, they become sloppy. This is the chance we’ve been waiting for! This is how we’re splitting you up. Rookies will take the perimeter. The rest will take the insides, either taking out the money or finding Redwood.”

“Guess we’re outside?” Frigid speculated.

“Sparkplug will lead the Assassins to get rid of the money,” Star Lance continued. “Dust Fencer will lead the other Assassins to take down Redwood. Anymore questions?”

Star Lance waited for anyone to speak up. No one objected or said anything, so he dismissed them.

“Remember. Return here by five. We’ll start then.”

---

The sun had set in the docks of Manehattan, casting a shadow across the dirty waters of the city, providing the Assassins with some cover as they headed for the Templar shipment.

Frigid Night followed Mirror Match, along with two of the new rookies, Wreckhouse and Tangent, towards the edge of the pier. Silently slipping into the dark waters, the four Assassins slowly made their way towards the docks where the Templar vessel was docked. Frigid looked up a few times as his head left the water, spying two guards patrolling the walkway near the ship. They swam as soundless as they could, while using bigger movements to cover the distance faster.

Tangent was the first to arrive at the edge of the docks. She quietly climbed the wooden supports, hanging just below one of the guards. She leapt up the last few beams, and with a quick stab forward, her hidden blade found its way into the guard’s back. She pulled back as she dropped back down to the lower beams, dragging his body with her, sending it splashing down into the murky water.

“Nicely done, Tangent,” Mirror whispered to the novice, moving up to join her on the wooden supports.

Frigid Night and Wreckhouse moved up to the beams as Mirror Match and Tangent climbed up onto the platform. They hid behind crates as the second guard returned from his patrol, looking for his friend. Frigid gave a quick whistle, getting the guard’s attention. The man walked over to their location behind the crates. He turned the corner, getting a full second to contemplate what the hooden people were doing there, just before Wreckhouse brought his hammer down on the guard’s head. Even through the helmet, Frigid was sure he heard the crack of bone as the man fell into the water below.

“Can’t say I agree with that weapon,” Frigid mused. “But… effective.”

“O’ course!” Wreckhouse added. “Hammers are awesome!”

“Let’s move,” Frigid continued, leading the way forward towards the ship. “We’ll have the clear the perimeter for the others to infiltrate the ship.”

One more guard patrolled the next immediate area before the ship. Frigid Night pulled out a throwing knife and took his time to aim. With a flick of his wrist, the knife flew and found itself in the man’s back. He fell forward and stopped moving. Frigid and Mirror headed forward as Wreckhouse hid the body.

“There.” Mirror pointed to the entrance to the ship. Two guards stood at the start of the walkway.

“We’ll just need to deal with them. Then the other two teams can enter.”

“Right.” Frigid nodded.

Without warning, the apprentice left his cover and made a dash straight for the two guards. They turned to see who was approaching to see a white blur racing towards them. The guards got into shooting position, but Frigid was already there. He ran in between the guards and stretched out his arms to his left and right, unsheathing his hidden blades. The blades sunk right into the flesh of the guards’ necks as they struggled to realize they were both hit.

“Clear.” Frigid signalled on his earpiece to the other two leaders as the two guards fell at his feet. He turned to his team. “Time for us to clear this up.”

---

“The rookies have done it.” Sparkplug turned to his team. He pulled up his white hood. “Our turn.”

“Alright team, let’s move out!” Dust Fencer echoed, pulling up his hood as well.

Sparkplug led his team off the building they were standing on, leaping off into a big blue dumpster down at the docks. The others followed down behind him, landing one after the other as they proceeded to the ship. They ran past the rookies as they headed through the walkway of the ship. Dust Fencer gave Frigid Night a high five as he past him. Arriving at the deck, Sparkplug led his team towards the shipping containers while Dust Fencer led the others towards the helm, where Redwood would most likely be. Pierce Network broke off from Sparkplug’s group, heading for the security room.

The rest of the team stopped behind one of the crates, spying a few cameras surveying the area.

“All you, Pierce,” Sparkplug said to the hacker on his earpiece.

“On it,” Pierce replied. He headed towards the door of the security room. “Sparkplug needs those cameras gone. It’s my job to do just that. Time to see what they have behind this door.”

He tapped on his phone, deactivating the lock mechanism for the door. The guard inside swung around as he heard the door open, but got a baton to the head twice before going down.

“I’m in,” Pierce alerted. “You’re good to go, Sparkplug.”

“Right.” Sparkplug acknowledged.

Pierce pulled his hood off his cap before taking a seat in the chair and spying his team from the camera screens. They were making progress, but he still had to determine which containers contained the money. He brought up the manifest on the screen and tapped away on the keyboard, trying to determine which containers were the right ones.

“Let’s see where you’re hiding all that money, Templars,” he said to himself, his fingers flying across the keyboard. “I’m going to make sure you never get any of it. Not even one note.”

He brought up different files on the screen, speed reading each one to learn more about the Templar shipment.

“The Templars have brought in things from all across the world…” Pierce began to say to himself as he learned the contents of the shipping containers. “Gold bars, fast cars, antique furniture, weapons… and lots of money. They think that material wealth is everything in the world. These Templars have lost their integrity long ago.”

He spied two guards heading towards Dust Fencer’s team. He quickly warned the Assassins before locking the doors behind the guards, preventing more guards from entering, and also preventing their escape. He witnessed the guards walk straight into the group of Assassins. Dust Fencer and Trueshot jumped the guards, taking both of them down with their hidden blades. They hid the bodies before moving on.

Pierce switched cameras, having a look at what the rookies were up to. They seemed to be doing well, clearing out the guards around the perimeter. So far, they had yet to be detected.

He watched Frigid Night, the young apprentice, leading the group of rookies around. The kid had potential to become a great Assassin, but he still had a long way to go. Not all Assassins live to great age, but the boy was good with his hidden blades. Pierce recalled when Frigid used to have a sword. He wasn’t very good with it, but he seemed to fare much better with the short, concealed blades instead.

Seeing that the rookies had it covered, he returned his attention to Sparkplug’s and Dust Fencer’s teams. There were all kinds of different containers where Sparkplug was. Pierce had figured out that red containers contained weapons, blue containers contained gold, green containers contained cars and furniture, and white containers contained the money.

“Sparkplug,” Pierce called. “The money’s in the white containers.”

“Got it,” Sparkplug responded quickly.

Sparkplug attached his electronic charges to the doors of the containers. With a bit of programming, the Assassins got behind cover as the charges went out, disabling the locks on the containers. The Assassins got to opening the doors, revealing a huge mountain of cash in each container.

“Fire Frenzy.” Sparkplug signalled, bringing the Assassin forward. He brought with him a can of gasoline they found around the containers. “You still like playing with fire?”

Fire Frenzy gave him a huge grin. “You know I do, Sparkplug.”

The other Assassins stepped back and started opening the other coloured containers while Fire Frenzy picked up the can of gas and tipped it over some of the money. Lighting a match, Fire Frenzy flicked it over to the oiled stacks of cash, watching as the money went up in flames almost instantly.

“Now that’s what I call a show,” he said to himself.

“Nice one, Frenzy,” Ice Flake high-fived him.

“It’s what I’m good at, Flake,” he smiled. “You know that.”

“Sure do.” The white haired Assassin softly punched him in the arm before proceeding to loot the place.

He proceeded to move on to the next few stacks while the other Assassins did what they could in halting the Templar resources. They broke some cars and furniture, and threw some gold into the murky waters.

“Bag some,” Sparkplug ordered. “We could use some of these resources.”

The Assassins pulled out foldable bags, enlarging them and stuffing what they could into the little bags. They took some gold, weapons, and some bundles of cash.

“Guard!” Ice Flake warned.

They all halted what they were doing as a flashlight began dancing around the edge of the containers.

“Who’s there?” a voice came.

A guard turned the corner, carrying a pistol and his flashlight, taking in full sight of the burning money. He pulled out his walkie-talkie, but Sparkplug was faster. The square-shouldered Assassin pulled out his cattle prod and pushed the tip into the guard’s neck, sending volts of electricity coursing through the man. The man didn’t even scream as he went down, the electricity keeping his jaw muscles closed.

“Close one,” the Assassin said, keeping his weapon. He returned to the others, grabbing a bag of gold and bringing it over to the side. “Let’s speed it up. Won’t be long before we have to get out of here.”

Comments

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

Good ol sabotage missions. Reminds me of the mission in AC3 where you throw the tea off the ship. These Assassins really have a wide array of weaponry, it's like in Unity where you can pick your own weapon. Nice chapter, and we'll see about assassinating Redwood next, right?

[Sonata Eternal]

Assassins stealing stuff. Then again, they aren't exactly the good guys, so... hehe. Looking forward to the assassination.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

is it alright if i use YOUR OC's Cinders of war?

Cause my stories will have some scenes with the Assassin-Freedom Fighters, which will be explained.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

Is it alright if i borrow your OC's, i have plenty, but since it is in the same reality as these stories, it'll be useful to use actual charecters that already exist.

[MoonlightRift]

Seeing the assassins in their prime, sneaking about and such is really neat.