//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Meet your Match // Story: A Long Way to Fall // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// "I don't really like how you people go about killing others, but..." Twilight Sparkle sighed as she placed her notes down. I guess it's too late to change any of that now." Morning nodded and placed a hand on her chest. "I joined the Assassins, because I felt there are some things you have to do yourself to prevent a lot of terrible things. I don't feel sorry for killing all those people, but I knew there was no other way to stop the Templars..." "To be fair," Twilight examined her notes. "It's not all that bad yet, from what you've told me." "That's because the worse is yet to come, Twilight," Morning looked up at her. "But we're getting there. Frigid's meeting with that witch." “Find anything yet?” Frigid asked, only to get a whack on the head from Pierce Network, one of the best hackers in the Brotherhood. “Patience, kid. It takes time,” the hacker said. He turned back to the screen. “You Templars think you can keep your research from me? Well, you’re not as smart as you think. I’m gonna take your system down from inside. Then we’ll see what you have hidden away from us.” Frigid remained silent as Pierce tapped away on the keyboard, bringing up all kinds of letters and numbers on the screen. He turned to Rose Petal. “He knows what he’s doing right?” Rose Petal pushed away a few strands of her red hair and laughed. “Of course. In my opinion, he’s the best. Don’t tell him this, but I also think he’s got very little personality.” “I heard that,” Pierce said, but remained fixed on the computer screen. “People these days. Most of them don’t know the difference between good and bad. That’s why I’m here. Here to fix all these problems, and… what do we have here…?” “Found something?” Frigid asked again, but watched for Pierce’s hand, just in case. “Actually, yes.” Pierce wheeled around in his chair and faced the others. “We know Money Bags has been funding the Templars, but looking through his data and transaction history, I have managed to narrow it down to a single person. That’s where it leads to another problem.” “What problem?” Rose Petal asked, pushing past Frigid. “That person’s name is Hemlock,” Pierce began. “She is a high ranking member in the Templar Order, but that’s not it. She’s also a part of the Board of Education.” “Well now, that’s just wonderful.” Dust Fencer walked over to a rack of gadgets and examined them. “People will know when such a well-known person disappears. We’re going to have more trouble hiding someone on the Board.” “We have to, though,” Frigid suggested. “They’re working on something that might lead to an advantage over us. We need to find out. This Hemlock might be one of the few that actually know what's going on.” “Frigid's right,” Rose Petal added while giving Frigid a good pat on the back. “This is a good clue. We can’t waste it.” Dust brought up both his hands. “I didn’t say we shouldn’t take this on. I just said it won’t be easy.” “She will be easier to find though,” Rose said. “We already know where she is. We can set an ambush.” “Yes,” Dust agreed. “She’ll have to head to and from work every day. If we could find out her usual paths and timing, we could easily take her down quietly without anyone noticing. But then comes her disappearance. What do we do with her body?” “We could always frame it on some street thieves,” Rose suggested. “I mean, robbery happens, right?” “That’ll do.” “If you’re doing this, count me in,” Frigid said confidently. “Well…” Dust Fencer began, but stopped as Trueshot entered the room. “What’s up, Trueshot?” “We’ve got a new one,” the Stalliongrad Assassin said. “Mentor wants our initiate here to take her through the training. Show her how it’s done and such.” “What?” Frigid asked. “I barely have any experience! How can I teach someone else? And besides, that sounds like a good mission for me to get some experience.” “Whatever the Mentor says goes, Frigid,” Dust Fencer added. “Sorry, but I guess you’ll be sitting this one out.” “No worries, Frigid,” Rose smiled. “We can handle this on our own. We are highly trained after all.” Trueshot nodded and smiled. “Head over to the dojo. You’ll find your new student there. And try not to show off, da? You’re still an initiate after all. I could still show you a thing or two on improving your abilities.” High Noon walked down the stairs of the munitions bay. He had used to be the bodyguard of Oak Wood, but after foolishly leaving him alone, Oak Wood had gotten killed by the Assassins. He punched his fist into the wall, satisfied from the crack in the wall and the pain in his arm. Pain wasn’t enough punishment for what he had done, but it would have to do. After sending the bad news, Mahogany Wood had called for Crescent Wing to personally throw High Noon around the room. He was still a little sore from the beating, but he felt he deserved it. “Maybe I should have just stayed in Appleloosa,” he pondered. “Maybe I wouldn’t be in this mess.” High Noon had left his town to find something he could do to change the world. He was eventually recruited to the Templar Order when they witnessed him beating down a thief who thought he could steal High Noon’s wallet. He worked his way up, eventually being placed as a bodyguard for one of the Wood family. Now, he was here, unsure if he had made the right choice from the start. A clatter of metal drew his attention behind him. A guard’s body lay dead next to the foot of the staircase. High Noon went on alert, immediately whipping out his trusty revolver. He looked around. Whoever had taken out the guard was good at hiding. “Assassins…” High Noon frowned. A quick turn to his left saved him from a blade as an Assassin flew past him. High Noon dodged to the opposite side and took aim with his revolver. The Assassin dodged his bullet and flipped himself off the landing. High Noon quickly got up and ran down the rest of the stairs, making sure he was on concrete before he turned his attention to his surroundings. The Assassin had disappeared again. He decided to call for backup, but as soon as he took out his phone, he heard footsteps approach him and turned to see the Assassin closing the distance between them. The Assassin knocked the phone out of High Noon’s hand before swinging a kick to his head. High Noon blocked it with his arm, but the Assassin stabbed forward with his hidden blade, forcing Noon to dodge to the right. He aimed his revolver and fired, but the Assassin ducked and quickly made his way towards him again. Realizing his revolver wouldn’t do him good in a close ranged battle, he pulled out his combat knife and slashed at the Assassin. The Assassin blocked with his own blade, but High Noon used his other hand to deliver a straight fist to the Assassin’s face, knocking him down to the ground. “Take that!” Noon shouted as he pulled out his lasso. He quickly swung it around his head before tossing it at the assassin. He succeeded in lassoing the Assassin before he could react, tying it tightly around the trained killer. Whipping out his revolver again, High Noon quickly aimed it at the hooded man and fired. A bullet left the gun and pierced right between the Assassin’s eyes. The blow from the bullet knocked the Assassin back against the wall as High Noon got back up. He quickly picked up his phone and dialed the office. After a few rings, someone picked up. “Yes?” the voice said on the other end. “This is High Noon,” he said, looking around to see that there weren’t more Assassins. “There’s been an attack in the munitions bay. Assassins. I took one down, but I don’t know if there are more.” There was a few good seconds of silence before the voice replied. “Acknowledged. Putting the base into high alert. Good job.” High Noon hung up as the alarm bells began blaring. Hopefully he had done something better today. Frigid walked down the stairs to the dojo. It’s been a while since he set foot in the training zone, but he still remembered all of it as he entered the wide area. The high poles stood to one side, which they could use to train their free running skill on elevated platforms. To the other sides stood the other grueling obstacles that an Assassin would have to master to make it in the outside world. He tried not to remember himself falling off the obstacles as he walked, but he remembered them anyway. “You must be Frigid Night?” someone said. He returned to the normal world, seeing a girl standing in front of him. She had orange and green hair, light purple skin, and had on a white Assassin robe. Frigid didn't say it out loud, but he thought she was kind of pretty. “Y-yes. That's right,” he started. “I am. And you must be the new novice?” “Correct!” she smiled. “I’m Mirror Match, and I was told you were going to teach me the ways of the Assassin!” “Right again,” Frigid replied. He tried to think what he could help her with, but he wasn’t too well versed in the types of training at the moment. “Maybe we can start with these.” He pointed to the high poles. Walking over, he got onto the first platform. “Ever done this before?” he asked her. “Not yet.” “Well, it’ll take some getting used to but…” He quickly showed her the basic steps, leaping and running across a few of the poles before coming back down. “It’ll come as you do it.” She looked up at the poles before walking forward. “Guess I’ll have to… give it a try.” She wobbled up onto the first platform and stood for a while. “Just pretend it’s a game of hopscotch,” Frigid suggested. “Just that… you can fall off.” “That sure helps me,” she replied. She started jumping from pole to pole. Frigid was waiting for her to fall, but it never came. She successfully jumped across each pole like a trained Assassin. “Wow,” Frigid said, surprised. “That’s some natural talent you have there.” “It’s something I’m quite good at,” she answered. “I’m able to imitate the things people do.” Frigid nodded. “That’s a pretty good skill. How about we try that out on the other obstacles, but this time… you go first?” Frigid Night led the new assassin over to another obstacle. It was a tall wooden structure with little pieces sticking out, which allowed Assassins to climb the structure. “Try climbing this,” Frigid instructed.  Mirror Match stepped up the first bump and grabbed for another. Frigid watched as she proceeded up the first level of the obstacle, moving from piece to piece almost easily. “So, Mirror Match…” Frigid asked. “What made you decide to join the Brotherhood?” “Well,” she said as he grabbed on to the next piece. “I’ve always thought if I could do something good for the world, then I should do it. I’ve witnessed Assassins taking down thugs and corrupt politicians. That got me thinking. What if I was doing that? I’m also looking for someone important. Maybe through this job, I’ll finally find who I’m looking for.” “Sounds like a valid one,” Frigid mused. “How about you?” she asked, as she stepped off another piece. “What made you decide to join?” “Hmm… for me, I’d thought it was an honour to rid the world of as much problems as I could. Right now, I’m still rather new to this, but with experience, I know I can do it.” “Alright,” she huffed as she arrived at the top of the first level. “How am I doing? Good enough for you?” “Not bad, Mirror,” he said, quite impressed with her basic skills. “Now on to the next part. You’ll have to jump to get to the next piece above.” She looked up. Above her, the closest piece she could grab on to was at least a meter away. She readied herself, but when she took the leap, she missed. Losing her grip, she fell, but Frigid was already in place, ready to catch her. “Careful there,” he said as he caught her. “Looks like I’ll have to show you how it’s done.” “Yup,” she said as she stood up. “Maybe you should go first for the rest of the training.” Dust Fencer and Rose Petal had picked out a spot on a nearby building, having full view of the Board of Education’s main building. They had followed Hemlock from the streets until she arrived at the building. “What’s she doing now?” Rose Petal asked. “Hmm… I think she’s in another meeting,” Dust Fencer replied, keeping an eye on the Board member through his binoculars. “Same as the past seven hours we’ve been here.” “So, what now?” she asked. “Are we just going to wait here until she leaves the building to take her down?” “Either that, or we wait until she’s alone. But the first is more ideal. Who knows what tricks she might have set up in her office? You never know.” “Guess we’ll be waiting here for a while,” Rose Petal said, walking over and taking a seat on a nearby pile of bricks. “So, how’s Frigid Night doing? Has he said anything about the missions he’s gone on?” Dust Fencer let out a small laugh. “Well, he didn’t particularly like it when we sent him to take down Oak Wood, but he handled himself. Although, if I were to add, I’d say he could’ve done better. He just needs more training. That’s why Mentor decided to give him someone to teach. Perhaps he can solve his own problems through the novice.” “Ha. Can he really teach her on his own? He still has techniques we haven’t taught him.” “Well, Mentor knows what she’s doing. And besides, Frigid’s a good kid. He’ll figure it out. He’ll just have to teach her as we teach him.” Rose Petal nodded. “I guess. The kid has potential as an Assassin. Perhaps one day, he’ll even be like Star Lance.” “Maybe,” Dust Fencer said as he monitored Hemlock. “She’s getting up.” Rose Petal returned to his side. “Is she finally leaving?” Dust Fencer nodded. The green haired woman was finally leaving the office. It was time to go to work. The two Assassins watched her until she left the building before leaving their perch. “I will tail her from below,” Dust Fencer told Rose Petal. “You follow us by the roofs. If I get into trouble, I trust you will know what to do.” “Sure I do, Dust,” Rose Petal confirmed. “I’ve saved you plenty of times.” Dust Fencer smiled before doing a leap of faith. He flew down, straight into a pile of trash. Getting out, he quickly pulled up his hood and walked into the nearest crowd. He still had Hemlock in his sights as she strolled past the next building, likely on her way home. Dust left his current crowd and merged into the next, getting closer to his target without her noticing anything. “Closing in,” Dust Fencer said as he activated his earpiece. “Has she suspected anything yet?” “She hasn’t turned around once,” Rose confirmed. “Keep an eye on her,” Dust responded. “Templars are not this oblivious.” Dust Fencer followed the Templar until the crowd he was in stopped outside a bar. He quietly slipped out and tailed Hemlock from a safe distance, unable to find another crowd to blend in. It was then he realized that they were no longer in the streets of Manehattan. No other people were around, besides the board member and himself. “Rose, I’m leaving my cover. There’s nothing else to use. She must know I’m following her.” “Alright,” she said over the earpiece. “Be careful. She might be leading you into a trap.” Dust continued on, careful not to make too much sound just in case the Templar hadn’t caught on to him yet. He was thinking about throwing a knife at her, but stopped. Something really didn’t seem right. “Dust!” Rose Petal shouted. “Behind you!” Dust Fencer dodged to the right just as a spear shot past him and lodged itself into one of the bins. “Too bad,” a voice in the darkness said. “I’d had hoped to kill you quickly.” A woman walked out from the shadows and stood before Dust, wielding another spear in her hands. She had white hair, blue skin, and she wore a dusty brown suit. “And who might you be?” Dust asked, at the same time, pulling out his rapier and readying himself. “The name’s Long Throw,” she said. “You’re not taking down Hemlock while I’m around.” “Of course,” Dust Fencer said. “A bodyguard. I should have known.” She suddenly charged at him, her spear tip raised to his chest. Dust easily sidestepped the attack and stabbed with his rapier. The bodyguard twisted her spear, pushing the blade of the rapier away as it approached her. “Rose!” Dust shouted as he struck back. “Don’t let Hemlock get away! I’ll take this fight!” “Got it,” she replied in his earpiece. He attacked again, stabbing forward in a flurry of strikes. Long Throw successfully blocked them with her spear, pushing him back to the wall as she stood her ground. Dust felt his back against the wall as the Templar’s bodyguard pushed him back. Sensing her imminent victory, Long Throw dashed forward, stabbing her spear forward as fast as she could. Seeing his opportunity, Dust dodged to the side and activated his hidden blade. He sliced up in a fast motion, cutting the spear in half as the front lodged itself into the wall. He quickly spun and stabbed forward, getting the bodyguard in the knee. He yanked his blade out for another strike, but she jumped backwards, avoiding it. “Ouch!” she shouted as she hobbled over to the entrance. “You hit me!” “Of course,” he smirked. “Come back over here so we can finish this.” She scowled her face at him, but moved over to retrieve her first spear. “You’ll pay for this!” she shouted as he jumped towards him on her good leg. Dust acknowledged her will, and readied his sword. “And this is the canteen,” Frigid said as he brought Mirror Match to the place of food. “The food’s not bad, but it is better outside.” “It’s a nice place though,” she said as she looked around. “Yeah, I guess. I haven’t been here long, but I’ve taken a liking to this place.” “Really?” a voice said. “That was fast.” Both of them turned around to see a familiar face sitting at the table behind them. “Ah,” Frigid said as he realized who it was. He turned to his new apprentice. “Mirror Match, this is Pierce Network. He’s one of the hackers here in the Brotherhood.” “Nice to meet you,” she told him. “Yeah,” Pierce said, paying more attention to his phone than to the two. “Great. Some people think they can take advantage of others just because they’re stronger, huh? I think it’s time for me to pay someone a visit.” “Umm… what did he say?” Mirror whispered to Frigid. “And he sounded pretty bored about it.” Frigid raised his shoulders. “Not too sure myself, but he does that from time to time.” Pierce stood up and headed for the door. “Well, kids, I gotta go. Some people need punishment. If only I could take them all down at the same time. That’ll save me a lot of time.  I’ll see you two around.” Frigid continued his tour as Pierce Network disappeared around a corner. He brought Mirror Match to the weapon and armor rooms to check out some gear. “So you use a sword?” she asked as she took a look at the different weapons. “I do, but I don’t think I’m very good with it.” Mirror Match laughed. “Well, maybe you’ll get better at it. As for me, I prefer short weapons. Maybe a knife.” “You can try one. No harm in that.” She picked out a knife and swung it a few times. Frigid showed her some basics in knife fighting, and after watching him, she copied his form almost perfectly. After the armories, he showed her the library, the barracks, and the courtyard. He concluded the tour at the Mentor’s office. “Have you been here?” he asked. “No actually,” Mirror said. “I’ve only seen the Mentor when she interviewed me.” “Oh. Alright,” Frigid said. He pointed at the front door to the Mentor’s office. “This is where she stays all day. She sleeps in there as well as get her work done. She doesn’t normally talk to you though. If you have something to discuss, you’d normally talk to Star Lance.” “Star Lance?” Mirror Match asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen a Star Lance.” “He’s the Mentor’s right hand man. He’s a tough one. A bit grumpy most of the time. He deals with all the issues we have, unless they’re important. Then we go straight to the Mentor.” “Okay. So is that it? Anything else to see?” “Hmm…” Frigid thought out. He shook his head. “I guess that’s everything we have at this bureau.” “What do we do now?” Frigid smiled. “Let’s get back to training, shall we?” Rose Petal kept up with Hemlock as she ran through the alleys of Manehattan. The Templar agent had tried to shake Rose off her tail for the last three turns, but Rose knew better than to fall for simple tricks. She speedily kept up with the Templar from the rooftops, jumping from building to building. Hemlock kept running, but made a wrong choice, getting a smile from Rose Petal. She had run straight into a dead end. Rose jumped off a building and landed behind Hemlock, cutting off her exit. “Assassins…” Hemlock started. “Always getting in the way of our plans.” “Can’t have you taking over the world, can we?” Rose responded, unsheathing her hidden blade. Hemlock pulled out a pistol and fired. Rose Petal flung herself behind a pile of crates, avoiding the pellets as they struck the wood. The sound of the gun firing was different, but she wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe the Templars had a new type of bullet. She didn’t think much more of it, but instead focused on how to take the Templar on. “Come out, Assassin!” Hemlock shouted and slowly advanced on Rose Petal’s position. “You can’t hide there forever!” Rose Petal knew she had one chance. She would have to get out there and take down Hemlock in one move, or she would probably be pelted with a bunch of bullets. She pulled her foldable tonfa out of her coat and extended it. The piece of metal folded backwards, extending the weapon and unsheathing a small blade from its tip. Gripping the piece of steel in her right hand, she lunged out from behind the piece of wood she had taken cover at. Hemlock wore a look of surprise, being caught off guard, but shot anyway. Rose did a spin with her tonfa and caught a bullet with her weapon. She felt a zing on her upper arm, probably from a bullet, but it was only a graze, so she kept going. She swung her tonfa at the Templar’s face, knocking her on the side of her jaw. Hemlock flipped in the air once before landing hard on the ground. “Aah!” the Templar gasped as she held her jaw. “It’s over, Templar,” Rose said as she extended her hidden blade to finish the mission. Before she could plunge the blade into Hemlock, a sudden wall of weakness hit her, making her take a few steps back. Hemlock smiled as she tried to get up. “Looks like one of my bullets got you. Ha!” Rose Petal realized why the bullets seemed different. “Poison.” “My gun uses air to fire poison bullets,” Hemlock started saying. “As long as the tip touches you, it’s all over. You’ll slowly feel yourself getting weaker before finally biting the dust. I like to watch my victims die slowly, so the poison I use isn’t as lethal. I’d say you have about ten hours before you die.” Rose Petal wanted to walk over and put a knife in Hemlock’s face, but her legs lost their touch, sending her falling to the ground. The last she heard of Hemlock was her hideous laughter as she turned and walked away. Long Throw had put up a good fight, hobbling around on one proper leg, but after hearing the gunshots, Dust Fencer quickly ended it, lunging at the bodyguard. She tried to stick him with her spear, but he parried it with his rapier before forcing his hidden blade into her left eye. Long Throw gasped, but said nothing else as she went down and stopped moving. Dust left the body and quickly headed down the alley, looking for signs of Rose Petal and Hemlock. After a few turns, he found his partner down on the ground, but no sign of the board member. “Rose!” he shouted. He checked for her pulse. It was still going, but slowly. “What happened?” “Poison,” Rose muttered. “I was careless. It slowly weakens you until you expire. She said I had about ten hours to go.” “Ten?” he checked. Rose nodded. “That’s ridiculous. That gives us plenty of time to find a cure. I’m getting you back to base.” He pulled out his phone and called for support. He was going to have to get her back, fast.