//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: I'm the Quick, you're the Dead // Story: A Long Way to Fall // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// Frigid Night felt as if the world was having an earthquake. Eventually, he forced open his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief as he realized it was only Mirror Match shaking him awake. "Wake up, Friggy," she smiled at him, instantly brightening up his morning. "Star Lance wants to see you and Noon. Sounded urgent." "Uhh..." Frigid lifted himself off the comfortable mattress into a sitting position. "This early? I wonder what he wants..." After splashing some water in his face, Frigid left the room and headed for the Mentor's office with Mirror. "What do you suppose he wants?" he asked his partner. "I mean, Star Lance? Looking for me? Looking for Noon? That's not normal." "Only one way to find out, Friggy," Mirror said as she took his hand. "Whatever it is, we'll do it together." Frigid and Mirror approached the Mentor's office, hearing Star Lance long before reaching the door. "No, High Noon!" the Master Assassin barked. "I will only start trusting you when you've proven yourself and survive long enough. We clear on that?" "Y-yes..." "Star Lance, please," Frigid heard some concern in the Mentor's voice. "I think that's enough." Frigid took a long swallow before reaching his hand up to knock on the door. Not even two seconds after moving his hand back to his side, Star Lance flung open the door. "Oh. You two," he muttered. "I must say, Frigid. I didn’t believe your recovery was that instant.” He nodded in acknowledgement before turning his head to Mirror. “I only needed Frigid, Mirror Match. You may leave." Mirror Match frowned and grabbed onto Frigid's arm. "If he's going, I'm going with him. I'm not letting him get injured like that again." Star Lance looked like he was about to rebuff her, but he looked in at the Mentor for advice. The spectral haired woman nodded her head. "Fine." Star Lance turned back to the two soldier-ranked Assassins. "Come in. I'll brief you three." Frigid gave Mirror a silent thanks as they entered behind him. High Noon was standing by the side, slightly shaken from the shouting earlier. When he saw Frigid and Mirror, he gave them a wave and a small smile. "Alright," Star Lance said as he turned around and crossed his arms. "Let's make this quick. I would have suggested someone else, but everyone's out at the moment. I need you three to follow Pierce to Baltimare." "Baltimare?" Frigid asked. "Let me finish." Star Lance stared at him. "Pierce's job is to attach a bug to one of their main computers to gain access to their mainframe. Your job is to make it look like that wasn't our target." The Mentor walked forward with a file in her hand and handed it to Frigid. The Assassins looked in as he opened it, revealing a picture and data of a grey-skinned man with green eyes and lime green hair with a scissor-shaped moustache on his face. "Quickdraw," the Mentor continued the brief. "One of the Board of Education members and a Templar of the inner circle. He's stationed in one of their offices in Baltimare. Your mission is to take him down. Without him, you'll be limiting the Templar resources from that region." “Sounds straightforward,” High Noon opened his mouth, keeping an eye on Star Lance in case he said something wrong. “Yes,” the Mentor agreed. “Get in, assassinate Quickdraw, get out. Frigid, you are able to do this, yes? After all, you were only injured just yesterday. A fast recovery like that is new to even me.” “I have no idea what happened, Mentor, but I can do this. It’s as if I was never injured.” Frigid put his knuckles together. “Oh, Mentor!” Mirror suddenly increased her volume in recognition. “Can Satin come with us? I think it’ll be a good experience for her, since she’s never been in the field. She’s a fast learner too. I’m sure she’ll do just fine!” The Mentor looked to Star Lance as a silent conversation started between them. Frigid watched as Star Lance finally nodded and turned his yellow eyes back to the younger Assassins. “She can go with you.” “If you have everything ready,” the Mentor continued. “Pierce will be waiting with Red Card. He’ll explain what he needs you to do. Good luck, Assassins.” Frigid Night, Mirror Match and Satin Breeze sat in the back of the van, talking about the mission, while Pierce sat with High Noon in the front. After the Las Pegasus mission, High Noon had always been selected to drive when he went on assignments with the other Assassins, with everyone praising his driving skills. “Simple plan, yes?” Pierce called from the front, his head down, most likely eyeing his phone. “You do what you want, however you want, and I’ll find the computer when you get them busy. I’ll plant a bug on a good computer and hack my way into their mainframe. Soon, all the Templars’ little secrets on this machine will be known, and there’ll be no hiding any of that information from me ever again.” “Right,” Frigid slowly nodded. “If that’s how it is.” “Pretty straightforward, Friggy.” Mirror leaned in to whisper to Frigid and Satin. “We don’t want to be hiding for this mission. We need the eyes on us.” “Isn’t that compromising the Brotherhood?” Satin asked, remembering a part of the Assassin’s Creed. “That’s true,” Mirror nodded. “But remember… Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.” “Good one, Mirror.” Frigid put an arm around her. “Don’t worry, Satin. It’s going to work out. It’s what we’ve trained for.” “Yeah, and after all…” Mirror brought up an arm with her new phantom blade attached to it. “I have a new toy to play with.” “You’re not the only one,” High Noon smiled from the driver’s seat as he navigated through a junction. “I’ve been itchin’ to try out my new gadget as well.” “Gadgets… huh.” Everyone turned to Pierce, who was still looking at his phone. “This is the only gadget you’ll ever need. It can do all kinds of things. The best part is that the Templars never seem to understand it. I’ve brought it around, through their strongholds, casinos, offices-” “Right, right, we get it, Pierce.” Mirror was unimpressed, but also wanting to stop the man from dragging on the one-sided conversation. “We’ll get to finding Quickdraw and cause as much distraction for you as we can.” “Okay,” Pierce nodded and said nothing more. Mirror looked at Satin and pointed at the hacker before moving the finger in a circular motion next to her head. “So, Frigid,” Satin decided to ask. “You’re all better? I heard it’s completely gone?” “That’s right,” Frigid laughed. “I mean, wow. Just yesterday a knife had damaged my internal organs, but today… nothing. Maybe we collectively dreamed up that entire event.” “Yeah, Star Lance dreamt up the whole thing too,” Mirror joined him in laughter. “That’ll be the day.” “So this mission was directly from Star Lance himself?” Satin asked aloud. “Must be pretty important.” “Well, we’re only here to learn about something the Templars are building that might change the course of our battle,” Frigid said sarcastically. “No big deal.” “Yeah,” Mirror snickered. “No big deal. Ha ha.” “So Star Lance…” Satin mused at the Mentor’s right hand man. “He looks like a really tough one. Does he ever go out on missions? Kinda looks like he just hangs around the office with the Mentor all day. They must be really close, huh?” “Close?” Pierce questioned from the front, still looking at his phone. “You could say that.” “Woah, you know about them?” High Noon raised his eyebrows, impressed. “Kid, how long have I been in this line of work?” “I’ve forgotten,” High Noon admitted as the van sped down a long road. Pierce sighed, but continued his story. “Mentor and Star Lance grew up together. They were raised in the Brotherhood, unlike us. This was their life from the start, and they’ve been together for a long time, so you can bet they’re close.” "Must be hard..." Satin sat back against the seat. "Spending all your life fighting... But the Assassins have been successful all this while right? You're all pretty strong." "Not every era." Pierce lowered his voice. "There were dark times. Times where there looked like there was no hope. But how should I know what it was like? I was never there. I wasn't even alive back then. Things were different. I wonder how people lived without gadgets like this." He raised his phone and wobbled it in front of their faces. "And besides, that's what makes Star Lance and the Mentor strong. "Experience." "And each other, huh?" Mirror leaned into Frigid and put her hand on his. "Ugh..." Pierce gurgled, knowing what the two Assassins were doing without looking back. "You two... Well, at least you're happy. I was never happy. Even before joining the Assassins. My home was ravaged by Lucky Deck and the Templars. I had nowhere to go... Until I developed this phone. I began fighting back against the corruption. Bribed cops, human trafficking, drugs, everything. If justice was to be served, then I was there. I always thought I was alone in this fight, but then the Assassins found me. I've been with the Brotherhood ever since." "Oookay..." High Noon whistled. "Anyway..." He sped past a big signboard that read, "Welcome to Baltimare!" "We've arrived," Pierce finished for him. It was already dark by the time High Noon cruised down to the next street, giving the Assassins a sight of the city. It was definitely smaller than Manehattan, but still had its fair share of tall buildings and skyscrapers. Billboards of all kinds dominated the space at the top of the buildings. There were ads for a new type of energy drink, cat shampoo, and even one for a movie called The Golden Silence, starring the acclaimed rising celebrity actress, Ebony Wings. "Her again?" Mirror began her ranting about the actress not being good enough in certain aspects and how she didn't seem real. Frigid and Satin laughed at the idea that Mirror didn't like a lot of actors and actresses. "Alright, make a left here." Pierce pointed towards the windscreen with his other hand. High Noon released a little pressure on the accelerator and did as Pierce said, following his directions through the city. After a few more turns, Pierce signaled for Noon to stop in a dark alleyway, covered by a small amount of smoke and fog. "The building on the right. The red one," Pierce briefed, turning around to face the others in the back. "That's our place. You four know what to do. Find Quickdraw, and eliminate him. I'll be on comms if you need anything." He didn't wait for any questions, immediately opening the door and hopping out into the darkness. "Guess we're on our own from here..." High Noon sighed. He opened his door and headed out as Frigid opened the back doors. The Assassins scaled the building next to them, using ledges, pipes, and machinery to reach the top. Frigid arrived first, turning around to help the others up. "Okay, so where is the building..." Frigid said to himself as he scanned his surroundings. He found it in front of them, across the street. A large red building with white outlines and extended surfaces protruding from the building's front. "There we go. We've got to cross the street." "Guess we're climbing back down then?" High Noon saw no alternatives. Frigid sighed but nodded. "Guess so..." The four Assassins quickly made their way back down the building before approaching the street. They removed their hoods just in case people on the street found them suspicious before attempting to cross. Being nighttime, there weren't many cars on the road, which meant the few that were driving drove faster because they could. Frigid quickly pulled High Noon back as a motorcycle sped past them, almost taking the cowboy along for a ride. "Careful there, cowboy," Frigid smirked. "Yeah... Thanks." Mirror was the last to cross, jumping to the pavement as she neared the end of the road. Frigid checked that they were all fine before leading the way towards the entrance. Frigid peeked his head over one of the windows before focusing his eagle vision. Two guards inside were highlighted in red, each one holding an assault rifle. "Huh... Pretty tough security for an education building..." Frigid alerted the others. "They must be expecting trouble." "Is that going to be a problem?" Satin asked from the back. "Not if we do this well," High Noon spoke up. "We can't let them call too many reinforcements. We'll have to separate them. Too many guns will create a huge problem." "But we still need to cause a scene?" "Right." Mirror stepped forward and activated her phantom blade bow. "One each, High Noon." The cowboy smiled and pulled his revolver from its holster. "Once I fire, they'll know we're here. Everyone ready?" "I'm good," Satin voiced. "Let's go," Frigid signalled. Mirror and High Noon exchanged an agreement as they both leaned out from the corner. Mirror fired a dart at the guard on the left, while High Noon shot at the second guard's face. The first guard grabbed for his neck and went down, while the second one flew back and hit the ground hard, a single hole in his forehead. “They’ll be coming,” High Noon said as he replaced the bullet in his revolver. “We should find better cover.” Frigid nodded and led the way further into the building. They had to make sure the attention was on them, but they also had to find Quickdraw. According to Pierce, he was somewhere in the building. Deciding to check the upper floors for the Templars’ office, Frigid threw open the doors to a nearby staircase and lead the way up. He encountered one guard around one corner, but quickly took him down with a hidden blade before he could shoot at them. “Good one, Friggy,” Mirror praised as he pushed open a door on the top floor. The hallway inside was dark, the lights all switched off. Three guards were already waiting, pulling the triggers for their rifles. Frigid quickly pulled Mirror back around the doorway as the first bullets splintered the door frame, sending wood flying down on the Assassins. “Great…” Frigid muttered as he dusted the chips off his hood. High Noon pulled out his revolver and fired one bullet around the corner. The guards quickly ducked and fell back, giving the Assassins a few moments to get out of the stairwell and behind a bunch of sofas. “I don’t think these are the best cover…” Satin told the others as she pressed herself against the soft leather. “Yup.” High Noon stood up and fired his revolver again, getting one of the guards in the leg. “See if you can find away around.” “Come with me,” Frigid motioned to Satin as he made a dash for one of the office doors. Mirror Match joined High Noon in firing her projectiles as Satin left with Frigid, managing to get another guard in the arm. Soon, the poison coursed through his body and he fell to the ground and stopped moving. “One down!” Frigid merged himself and Satin in the shadows of a potted plant, just behind the guards as they continued to fire on Noon and Mirror’s position, still unaware they were vulnerable. Frigid motioned for Satin to take the wounded one while he snuck behind the third guard. He unsheathed his hidden blade and caught the man in the back of the neck as Satin leapt on the other guard, drilling her blade deep through the side of his head. They both landed with a thud as the Assassins pulled out their blades. "Good job, Satin," Frigid congratulated the novice. "Yeah... This is my first kill, actually." Satin looked at the dead guard, blood pooling around his head. "You're okay right?" Frigid checked. "I mean, killing can get to you sometimes." "I know," she nodded, her face pale but otherwise unshaken. "It's what I signed up for, and besides, I'm doing this for my sister." "Couldn't have said it better." Mirror clapped her apprentice on the back. "That's just what I like to hear. A good motivation." "All guards," a voice came up on the loudspeakers. "The Assassins are on level four. I repeat, level four! Find them and terminate them!" "That must've been Quickdraw," Frigid told the others as he continued down the dark hall. "Guys, you there?" Pierce's voice said on their earpieces. "We're here, Pierce," High Noon responded, letting Frigid concentrate on leading the way. "I've located Quickdraw through his signal. He's on level four, same as you. Check the offices. I've disabled all elevators, so the only way down is past you four. Huh. Templars. Always so reliant on their technology. When the time comes-" "Okay, Pierce," High Noon stopped him. "We get it. We'll find Quickdraw and end this." "You better. I'm almost to the mainframe. I'll contact you later." "It's okay, Noon," Mirror told him as he sighed at the hacker's monologuing. "It bothers us all." "Don't have to tell me twice..." More conversation was cut short as the chatter of bullets began filling the air around their heads, forcing all four Assassins to the floor. They quickly crawled back into an open office before checking their situation. There was a large square sitting area just beyond the corridor containing more sofas, a small glass table with stacks of newspaper on it, a couple of drawers, and at least six guards, each with a rifle of their own, firing back at the Assassins. "Don't let them reach me," they heard Quickdraw's voice shout over the intercom again. "I'm initiating lockdown." "Lockdown?" High Noon repeated. "We need to hurry. When lockdown is initiated, a protector drops down before each door and window, preventing access from the outside. The only way to stop it would be the main console. Probably in Quickdraw's office." "But how are we going to get past those guards?" Satin asked as she tried to glance around the corner. "There's a lot of guns outside." "Anyone got any smoke bombs?" Frigid asked, putting his hand out. "I have one. With just enough, we could limit their vision enough to get to Quickdraw's office before the lockdown." "Just one." Mirror put hers in Frigid's hand. High Noon and Satin shook their heads, both having no smoke bombs. "Guess we won't know how it'll work out if we don't try," Frigid shrugged and closed his fingers around the bombs. "Let's go." He rolled the bombs along the ground, watching as the balls exploded under the guards' feet. The Assassins activated their eagle vision to navigate the smoke, while also keeping an eye on the guards who were all coughing and gagging in the smoke. High Noon was the first through the office doors, turning around to cover his teammates just as a metal shutter closed in between him and the other three. "No!" he shouted as he slammed a fist on the metal piece. "Go on, Noon!" he heard Frigid's muffled voice on the other side. "We'll take care of things on this side! Go! Find Quickdraw!" High Noon gritted his teeth but continued on, searching the dark room for the Templar. There were four pillars bear each corner, holding the special layered ceiling up, along with a solid wooden desk and a row of cabinets on the other side. Empty. High Noon whipped out his revolver and held it in both hands, wearily keeping an eye out for the Templar. So far, the room remained a dark blue hue without any signs of red around. "Quickdraw!" Noon shouted out, getting his legs into stance in case he needed to move fast. "Come out! Time to end this!" "High Noon..." he heard the Templar’s voice utter with disgust. "I didn't think they'd send you after me. I'll make sure to give you the proper rites for your betrayal." "The Templars are wrong, Quickdraw!" High Noon scanned the area, still seeing no sign of the man, even with eagle vision. "All they want is to control the world with their own terms, not make it better! Mahogany is evil." "No, High Noon. He's doing the right thing!" Quickdraw suddenly smashed out of one of the cabinets and fired a shot from his own revolver at High Noon, forcing the cowboy towards the pillar on the right. "Mahogany plans to rid the world of chaos! Don't you see it?" High Noon looked around the pillar, noticing the red hue of the Templar crouching behind the wooden desk. He leaned out and fired a bullet, but only managed to chip the table before the Templar fired two bullets in quick succession, forcing Noon back behind the pillar as plaster rained over his hood. "Thought you were a better shot!" Quickdraw taunted. "You've lost your touch!" High Noon made a dash for the opposite pillar, firing off another shot as he moved, trying to keep the Templar down. Right now, the closer he was to Quickdraw the better. The Templar might be a good shot, but when it came to close quarters, High Noon had the better weapons. He heard a crackle as a bullet slammed into the wall on the other side, just barely missing his knee. High Noon leaned out to gauge his distance between himself and the Templar, seeing he was just a few feet away now. "Come on, Noon!" Quickdraw shot another bullet into the pillar. "Face me like a man! Oh what am I saying? You're no man! You're a mouse! A coward! You don't deserve to be alive!" The man was trying to scare him. He was right, calling the cowboy a coward. High Noon knew the truth in those words; he was a coward. He had let his fears get through once too many, but this time he had a reason to fight. His friends were outside and they were depending on him and he wasn't going to let them down. "You ready, Quickdraw?" High Noon shouted, readying his revolver. He had four bullets left in his gun while Quickdraw only had one. It all seemed too easy, but High Noon knew the Templars well. They always had tricks up their sleeves, but this time, he had one of his own. "Ready when you are, Noon!" Quickdraw bellowed, ending it with a laughter. "Let's finish this like men!" High Noon took a good long breath before charging out from the pillar, pointing the revolver at the Templar as he stood up. High Noon squeezed the trigger, but went off target as something hit him in the shoulder. His grip on the revolver loosened, sending it falling to the carpeted ground. "Ha!" Quickdraw spun his revolver around mockingly before starting to reload it. "Guess you don't have what it takes!" High Noon grunted from the pain in his shoulder, but he still managed to spin himself around and activated a mechanism in his left gauntlet. A piston pushed forward, sending the small hidden revolver into the cowboy's hand. "Wha-" High Noon fired off a round, the small piece of metal piercing the Templar's neck and going out the other side, only stopping when it hit a framed painting of a dragon on the other side, puncturing a small hole through the glass. Quickdraw quickly grabbed for his throat, trying to stop the blood as he gasped for air, falling on his back. “I… should’ve known… you… would fight… with no… honour…” the Templar managed to cough out as he fought for air. “Assassin…” “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop Mahogany’s plans.” High Noon eyed the man defiantly. “You don’t see the outcome. It only ends well for him. Not you.” “Fool…” Quickdraw gurgled. “You know nothing… of his plans… I wish you… all the worse… Death awaits you…” Quickdraw gasped one last time before fading, his hand dropping to the ground next to him. Even if Quickdraw hadn’t shown him any respect, High Noon felt like he had to be the better man. He knelt down and carefully closed the dead man’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” High Noon whispered as he stood up. “I wish you could see the truth.” High Noon quickly headed to the Templar’s desk, finding the console to disable the security doors. He tapped away, remembering the codes and procedures he had learnt during his time as a Templar, finally releasing the lockdown on the building. High Noon raised his hidden revolver and cautiously advanced through the door and into the darkness beyond. He tried to focus his eagle vision, but the pain from Quickdraw’s gunshot kept breaking his focus. “Pierce,” he eventually said, giving up on trying to see in the dark. “Can you get the lights?” The hacker didn’t say anything, but there was a click from the other end of the line and one by one, the lights flickered back on, bathing the offices in artificial white light. “Woah.” High Noon took a step back. Mirror Match stood in the middle of a circle of dead bodies, all of whom seemed to have been ripped apart with excessive force. The Assassin herself was up to the elbows in blood and entrails, and the sanguine liquid dripped from her fingertips and onto the soiled carpet. She held one of the guards’ rifles in one hand and as High Noon watched, Mirror fired a short burst into one man who was still moving. Mirror noticed the cowboy and casually stepped over a guard whose body was more red than anything else. “Well, you’re alive. I take it that means Quickdraw’s bitten the dust?” “Yeah...” It was all High Noon could say. “Did you do all this?” Mirror shrugged. “It was dark, and these guys were getting on my nerves. Anyone else would have done the same.” “Yeah, right!” Satin and Frigid emerged from a side door, where Frigid could see another body. “What anyone else would have done was get themselves killed.” Satin regarded her superior with newfound respect. “You’re amazing, you know that?” Frigid seemed to think otherwise. “A little excessive, don’t you think? We’re Assassins, not butchers.” He nudged a shredded arm with his boot. “A stab to the neck would have done.” “I only did it so we’d all be safe,” Mirror pouted, throwing her gun aside. “Now they can’t hurt you.” “I-I’m sorry, Mirror…” Frigid replied. “You did it for us. I get it. It’s just that this is all a bit… messy.” “Yeah, kinda looks like a wolf hadn’t eaten in weeks,” High Noon pulled down his hood and put his hat back on. “So, you got Quickdraw?” Satin asked the cowboy as she tried to look into the office. “Sure did.” High Noon rubbed at his shoulder. “I just wish there was an alternative. Anyway, away from those thoughts, we still have a mission to finish.” High Noon put a finger to his earpiece. “Pierce, have you planted the bug?” “Just about done,” the veteran Assassin finally replied. “What could you possibly be making this machine for, Templars? What do you need it to do for you? I’m afraid all that information will soon be mine. You think you’re untouchable? I’m just about to prove you wrong.” Mirror Match rolled her eyes as Pierce babbled on about justice and knowing everything. “Pierce, we get it. We’ll meet you back at the van.” “Affirmative.” “Let’s move,” Frigid called for his teammates to move out. “High Noon, you can’t drive like that. Anyone else can drive?” “I can, but…” Mirror raised her arms to show the others her blood-stained clothes. “I don’t think you want me to be driving like this. Cops might stop us.” “Right…” Frigid sighed. “Guess we’re going to have to let Pierce drive.” “What, is he that bad?” Satin asked. Frigid realized the novice had yet to be in a ride with the hacker as the driver. “I guess you’ll be finding out soon.” The ride back to Trottingham had been as stomach-churning as it had been quick, and Frigid was now certain that Pierce’s driver’s license was forged. No one who drove like that could have ever passed a driver’s test. As soon as they had pulled into the bureau, Satin had ducked off to the bathroom, presumably to regurgitate her last meal, while High Noon headed to the medic wing to get his shoulder looked at, leaving Mirror Match with him to accompany Pierce into his hideaway. The hacker pulled out a silver thumbdrive and stuck it in his computer, data immediately popping up in folders across his four screens. “Time to find out what you have, Templars. I’m going to hack my way into your database. Let’s see what we can find out about this machine they’re making.” “I wonder what we’ll find in there!” Mirror looked at the screens excitedly. “There we go…” Pierce opened another folder, bringing up black screens filled with white data and words, scrambling Frigid’s mind immediately. He stopped paying attention and waited for Pierce to tell him what they found. “Oh no…” the hacker finally said, leaning back in his chair. “That doesn’t sound good,” Frigid put a hand on the hacker’s shoulder and stared at the screen. “It’s not.” Pierce grabbed for his phone and began shifting through more pages of data. “The Templars might have just figured out how to use that artifact of theirs. Effectively.” “That… could be a problem…” “Yes,” Pierce nodded and continued. “That’s what the machine is for. They’ve determined that there are people in this world with better wavelengths than others. These people will be able to use the artifacts for longer periods of time.” “How does this machine of theirs work, exactly?” Mirror asked, her eyes shining as she looked at all the data Pierce was stealing off the Templar mainframe. “Has it been built yet?” Pierce scrolled down the screen, speed-reading through the texts. “The machine requires the artifact inside it. Apparently, it is what the Templars need to locate the special people to use it. What is this artifact all about, Templars? How does it work? One day, I’m going to find out, and there’ll be no stopping me. They’re still preparing to build it too. Good. The more time we have to stop them, the better.” “I’d better take this to the Mentor,” Frigid decided. “Pierce, can you print out a copy of all this?” The printer to the left began vibrating and before long, a few white pieces of paper emerged from the machine, falling nicely into the tray below. “Done. Go on. I’ll crack the rest of the data here. See if they think their first grade encryptions can keep me out. They can’t stop me. I’ll know everything.” After Frigid was gone, Mirror tapped Pierce on the shoulder, causing him to look up with irritation. “Can you print a copy for me too?” she asked sweetly. “Kids today…” Pierce grumbled before thumbing the ‘print’ button. "Wow, what a story, huh?" Twilight Sparkle closed her book for the day and stood up, patting down her purple skirt. "Too bad we don't have more time today. I'd have liked to hear more." "Well, there's always more time tomorrow, Princess Twilight." Morning Blade closed her own journal and looked at the front cover, running a finger along its surface. "We have plenty of time now that it's all over... I still can't believe it myself." "Returning to normal life, you mean?" Twilight tilted her head to the side. "Yes." Morning nodded and kept her journal in her bag. "I was only with the Assassins for a few years. I can't imagine what it must feel like for Keila. Um, she's the one from Saddle Arabia." "Right." "Keila was born into the Brotherhood. To have this war finally over... I wonder what she's up to now." Morning Blade stood up and shouldered her bag, following Twilight Sparkle out of the room. She figured it would only be time for her and Keila to readjust to normal life once again. Perhaps she would even go back to her studies. And perhaps I will...