Frigid Night sat atop the roof of another Templar building in Fillydelphia, thinking about everything he was doing. After searching Iron Coat's safehouse, he and Fire Frenzy had decided to go for another Templar. He thought as long as they didn't kill too many, Mentor would just let it slide.
Frenzy has gone ahead to investigate, looking out for signs of a high profile target while Frigid had time to check his actions. He clenched his fists as he thought back to Mirror Match. All the nights they had spent together couldn't equal to the pain she had brought him through.
Frigid knew what he had to do. He was going to make her pay. He tried to picture himself taking her down, preparing himself for the moment where his own hands would end her life. He saw his blade entering her neck, the tip puncturing her soft skin like paper.
Frigid hadn't seen his old partner since she left him to die at the construction site. Did she even know if he lived? If she didn't, he would have the element of surprise when he finally caught up to her.
Then he remembered the past. Mirror's expression when he had first revealed his feelings to her, her soft lips against his, even their bodies pressed against each other in the dark. Frigid quickly shook all those thoughts out of his head before it could weaken his resolve.
"Not now..." he said out loud, hitting himself for allowing such thoughts. The past was over. There was nothing he could do to turn back time. Mirror had made her choice, and he was going to make his soon enough.
"Frigid, I found one." It was Fire Frenzy, returning from his scouting.
"What do we have?" Frigid turned around and stood up.
“Two targets,” Frenzy briefed as they walked, the senior Assassin leading. “They look pretty high-profile to me. One’s really big and tough, probably from the army. The other one’s a smaller woman. She looks weak, but… I could be wrong.”
“We can take ‘em,” Frigid replied expectantly. “Any information we can tear off their bodies would be good too.”
“Right. This way.”
Frenzy leapt off the side of the building, Frigid doing the same shortly after. Nearing the bottom, the orange-skinned Assassin grabbed a flagpole before letting himself fall to the hard ground below, touching down with a roll to lessen the impact. Frigid grabbed the pole, swinging himself down after he made sure Fire Frenzy was out of the way.
Frenzy led Frigid over to a nearby underground carpark, the sloping entrance dark from a blown light. Both Assassins quickly dodged behind the orange barrier as a car turned in towards the carpark.
“More trouble?” Frigid asked as they moved around the machine, continuously watching the car pass. There was a small bumper sticker on the back in the shape of the Templar cross.
“Tail it.” Frenzy went ahead without Frigid, pulling up his hood and getting close behind the car, following closely behind it.
Frigid gritted his teeth at the missed opportunity, instead sticking to the shadows and getting to the closest pillar before he arrived at the lit section.
The carpark was a wide, squarish area with pillars supporting the ceiling up above their heads. Each row had a few fluorescent tubes lighting the place, but some were blown, just like the one at the entrance. The perfect place for a secret meeting.
The Templar car stopped close to another black car that was already inside, two people standing by it. One was a red-skinned man with orange hair and a green military coat over a large, muscular body. The second one was a purple-skinned woman with light-pink hair, going past the bottom of her black suit.
“They’re late,” Frigid heard the large man say. “Lateness should be punished.”
“It’s fine, Talon…” The woman waved her hand in his face. “They’re here now. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Fine.”
Frigid watched as two men got out from the car, each one carrying a silver briefcase. One of them had a cast around his neck.
“Same as usual, major,” the first man tipped his hat to the big man before turning to the woman. “Wysteria. Nice to see you again.”
“Whatever, Steam Shift,” she said as she looked away. “You know, I’ve moved on. So should you.”
“Hey, we’re here to swap equipment,” Talon barked at them, taking a menacing step forward. “So let’s get to that.”
"Just as you asked for." The man with the cast hobbled forward and dumped the suitcase in Talon's open palm. "Special-made bullets. These ones are fitted with explosives. Once inside a warm place, specifically the body, they detonate. Hard to survive something like that."
"Sounds good," Talon nodded as he opened the briefcase to check, closing after getting his fill. "Timber's outdone himself."
"And here are the parts your boss wanted," Wysteria said as she handed a large beige box over to Steam Shift. "Hopefully you guys get this thing done, huh?"
He moved to put it in the car, opening the door and slamming the box on the chair, watching it bounce on the leather before finally resting still. Before he could close the door, Fire Frenzy made his move, leaping over the truck and kicking the man in the face, knocking him down.
"Assassin!" the man in the cast shouted and pulled out a pistol.
"Get back!" Talon bellowed and charged forward.
Frigid left his position and headed in as Frenzy vaulted over the supposedly wounded man and grabbed his head, ending him with a quick twist, breaking his already injured neck.
"Flywheel!" Steam Shift yelled as he tried to get up. "You'll pay for that!"
Frenzy kicked him down again as he brandished his sword. "Ready for some dishing?"
"I got this, Wysteria." The military man walked forward and cracked his knuckles. On each hand, he wore a glove with small stubs on the knuckles. Frenzy slashed at him with his sword, but the man quickly grabbed his elbow and hit down with his other hand, forcing Frenzy to drop his sword. Talon quickly grabbed Frenzy's arm and belt before flipping him down hard on the ground.
Frigid quickly ran forward to join the fight, but the purple coloured woman stepped in his path, drawing out two small knives.
"It's you and me, Assassin," she smiled at him, spinning her knives and showing off her skills.
Frigid brandished both hidden blades and shoe blades before running to her, spinning a roundhouse kick to her head, blade first. She dodged under his leg and swiped at his other leg. Frigid recovered in time and spun himself around her and slashed out with both hidden blades. Wysteria parried one while dodging the other.
"Not bad," she praised sarcastically. "But no more games. I want to get home to bed. It's late."
Anger rose to Frigid's face as he grunted at her. "You Templars don't deserve to live!"
Frigid stabbed at her as she sidestepped, stabbing forward with her own knife, cutting a hole in Frigid's coat. Frigid kicked back with a shoe blade, wounding the Templar's waist, forcing her a few wary steps back.
Sensing his opportunity, Frigid attacked, throwing every strike as fast as he could, giving her no time to recover. He swung and spun his way towards her, forcing her on the defensive continuously. He found an opening, stabbing her in the right arm before kicking down with the ball of his foot, crippling her right knee.
"Aah!" Wysteria shouted as she dropped both knives.
Frigid would've killed her right there, but he needed her alive until he got everything he wanted to know from her. He pushed her to the ground with a knee before knocking her out with a fist. With her leg like that, she wouldn't be going anywhere too fast, so Frigid headed over to help Frenzy.
Fire Frenzy was having a tough time. He had gone up against Talon with his fists, both giving each other a few good punches. The Templar had the upper hand, knocking Frenzy down with a quick combo of punches and a throw.
"You can't hope to best me at CQC," the man laughed. "It's what I do."
Frigid entered the fight, swinging a blade at the Templar. Talon turned and caught him by the arm, instantly stopping Frigid's blade with his massive strength.
"What have you done to her?" Talon eyed the yellow-skinned Assassin after looking at Wysteria's body.
Frigid tried to squeeze out of his grip, but Talon was much stronger than he was. Instead, Frigid spun himself and kicked out with a shoe blade, slashing Talon along the chest.
The Templar winced but brought Frigid down and twisted his arm beyond it's normal range. Frigid felt the bones in his arm shift before it went numb from the pain. Talon let go and kicked him down before heading to Wysteria's body. Frigid watched him bend down to check on her before picking her up, along with the suitcases.
Frigid scolded himself for underestimating the Templar. Most of the previous ones were pushovers, but this guy was tougher. Much tougher.
Talon turned back once more and frowned at the Assassins before getting in the car. Frigid pushed himself up on a knee as the vehicle took off, heading out of the carpark.
"Well... That stunk." Frigid turned to Frenzy who lay on his back, an arm resting on his chest. "That guy punches hard..."
"Yeah," Frigid sighed and got up. "You alright?"
"Of course I am," Frenzy said and quickly flipped himself over and up, though he wore a pained expression when doing so.
Frigid looked around and shook his head disappointedly. They had Wysteria, but Talon managed to take her with him. He returned his attention to Frenzy when he saw the black car behind him, its door still open, the box still sitting inside. Steam Shift still lay on the ground by the car, knocked out earlier by Frenzy.
"We still have one," Frigid pointed to the beaten up Templar. "We can ask him what he wants with all these parts."
Frenzy bent down and lifted the man with one arm, pushing him against the front door of his car. The Templar's eyes fluttered open when his body impacted, darting around to see what was going on.
"What are these parts for?" Frenzy questioned him, putting as much violence as he could into his voice. "Answer!"
Steam Shift laughed at spat on Fire Frenzy's boots. "You'll get nothing from me, Assassin."
Frigid didn't enjoy wasting time. He'd come to find that the faster you solved a problem, the better. He walked up to Steam Shift and stabbed him in both knees with a shoe blade, getting the response he wanted from the man as he screamed with pain.
"What was that for...?" he groaned as he collapsed to the floor, his back against the smooth surface of the car.
"What are you planning to build?" Frigid yelled at the Templar's face.
Frenzy opened the box and sifted through the metallic parts and papers, unable to understand any of it. He slammed the hood of the car and returned to Frigid's side.
"You wouldn't understand," Steam Shift laughed. "You Assassins are not smart enough. This is everything Timber needs to get the machine to work."
"So we take this, you won't succeed." Frigid shoved his hidden blade close to the man's face.
"We always have more. We have resources. We have power. What do you have?" Steam Shift grabbed Frigid's arm. "These blades?"
Frenzy stepped forward and gave the Templar a good punch across his face. "Where is the machine?"
"Now this one, I won't say. Not even if you decide to kill me. I will never tell you."
Frigid growled at the man and raised a hidden blade to the side of Steam Shift's head. The Assassin turned to his partner, making sure he was about to make the right choice.
Frenzy simple waved Frigid back, silently saying that he would do it. He bent down and picked up his sword and dusted it off. Without warning, he slashed sideways, embedding the sharp metal in the side of the car door. Steam Shift's head rolled forward, landing in his lap, unmoving.
"Find rest where you next go, Templar," Fire Frenzy spoke as he yanked out his blade. "Although, I hope you burn before that rest." Frenzy made his to way to Frigid and grabbed his dislocated arm. “Brace, Frigid.”
Frigid barely had enough time to steel himself as Frenzy set his arm back into place, yelling at the top of his voice for a second before controlling himself. “Aah!”
“You’re welcome.”
Frigid tested his arm movement. It still hurt a little, but at least he could feel his fingers properly.
"Those parts..." Frigid put the cover back on the box and pulled it out of the car. "Perhaps Pierce can find something with all this."
"Well, I'm not carrying the whole bulky thing back." Frenzy sheathed his blade and began to walk away. "If you want it, you're carrying it."
"Seriously?" Frigid asked as he caught up. He'd thought spending some time with the guy, both having similar motives, would help them to bond better. "You still don't think I'm good enough?"
"I'm still better," Frenzy said in a low tone, but turned his head to face Frigid. "But alright. You're doing good, Frigid. Don't worry. We'll make Mirror Match pay for everything. For Ice Flake too."