//------------------------------// // Chapter 85: Sugar Rushed // Story: A Long Way to Fall // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// Frigid Night had been paired up with the black haired Keila again, both of them not too happy with the choice, though the Saddle Arabian Assassin was better at hiding it. They made their way down the busy bazaar streets, pushing through crowds of people towards the side. The sun was beating down against their faces, forcing Frigid to pull up his hood. Keila didn’t seem to mind it at all. This time, Frigid and Keila were after a familiar target. The Templar he had lost the other day: Sugar Rush. Frigid didn’t plan on letting her escape again. “So what’s your plan, oh great one?” Keila jokingly asked. She still put a tinge of niceness into her voice, but Frigid knew she probably didn’t want to be out here with him. He had heard about her actual partner, Ikram, and how he was such a ‘wonderful man and great partner’. She probably wanted to be with him instead. “Well, I say we head into the crowds and search for her,” Frigid decided to say. “Then when we see her, we take her down. Simple.” “What about Templar backup?” Keila folded her arms. “You don’t think she could set up an ambush? The Templars are getting bolder by the day.” “They don’t even know we’re coming for them,” Frigid scoffed. “So how could they set up an ambush?” “I don’t know, maybe it’s because they’re in one of the greatest Assassin strongholds of all time and they need to be prepared?” Keila answered sarcastically. “We’ll see then. Let’s just find our target first.” Keila narrowed her eyes but Frigid went ahead, pushing through the crowds while he searched for Sugar Rush with his eagle sense. “I see her,” Keila pointed with one hand before lifting her hood over her head to conceal herself. Frigid followed her finger to the main square where the Templar was positioned. Sugar Rush wasn’t doing anything in particular, but she had a bottle of water to her mouth as she sat on a polished rock, staring out into the crowds as people shifted from store to store, looking for things to buy. “Guards to her left,” Frigid pointed to two men in plain clothes, though through eagle vision, they were highlighted in red and wore obvious Templar crosses on their shirt pockets. “I don’t see anymore. I’m going in.” “No, wait!” Keila grasped Frigid by the arm. “Don’t you think it’s a bit suspicious? At all? Only two guards?” “She mightn’t know we’re coming for her.” “If only, huh, Frigid Night?” Frigid stopped listening and pushed forward, though a bit more carefully. Even though Keila only annoyed him, she had a point. There could always be other Templars hiding around, out of sight, waiting for the command of the woman out there. Sugar Rush still didn’t seem to notice them, but she was sitting away from the crowd, meaning Frigid and Keila would have to break cover to get to her. Frigid had to be fast. If she even saw them coming, and if she did have more backup, then they might be in a little trouble. He put a hand into his coat and grabbed a throwing knife, ready to make it quick before anyone could react. “Frigid. Wait,” Keila called behind him. “Hey!” Frigid pushed past  the last of the crowds and brought the knife out of his coat. The first Templar guard by the side immediately drew a suppressed pistol from his jacket, but Frigid got him first, chucking his knife straight into the man’s chest. Sugar Rush brushed her grey hair aside and jumped back behind the second guard as he fired a few rounds at Frigid. The Assassin dodged to the side as the crowds became aware of the weapon in the Templar’s hands, quickly scattering away from the stands and streets, retreating as far as they could from the commotion. Keila was pushed back by the sudden receding wave of people, unable to get to Frigid’s position. Sugar Rush herself reached behind her back and drew out a short sword made of glittering black crystal. As Frigid closed in on her, the Templar swung the blade, sending a dark crescent of energy slamming into the Assassin with enough force to throw Frigid onto his back. “What? Oof!” Frigid yelped as he landed on his back and then his front as he flipped over. At the same time, Frigid was overcome with a desire to duck, scarcely avoiding a volley of gunfire aimed at his head. Things didn’t look so great. Here he was in the open, with a gun pointed at him and a Templar wielding some kind of magic sword. Sugar Rush flourished her sword at her side, then stabbed at Frigid, an arrow of dark energy tearing past his shoulder and crisping the cloth as it did. “How did I miss?!” Sugar Rush yelled. The white clad Assassin saw his chance and leapt clear of more bullets before throwing two knives at the Templars. The first one was deflected by Sugar Rush, while the second one stabbed the guard in his arm, dropping his gun to the ground. The female Templar lashed out with her black blade again, sending a wave of dark energy in an arc towards Frigid, who skillfully slid under the attack, though he hurt his knees on the hard paved ground. Frigid leapt up and extended his hidden blades in a textbook air assassination, but Sugar Rush stabbed her sword into the ground and a spire of black crystal erupted from the point of contact, almost skewering Frigid on its pointed surface. He slammed into the solid black surface before bouncing back into a tree before sliding a few inches on the ground, tearing his sleeve a little. How in the world am I supposed to get this done? Frigid thought to himself as he sat back up and stared at the Templars. The guard had retreated behind a sculpture of a man holding a sword while Sugar Rush smiled slyly while standing out in the open, her sword tip pointed to Frigid. “Come on. Admit defeat. You can’t beat us now. Grand Master Sombra is more powerful than you can ever imagine.” Frigid wasn’t going to have any of it. He unsheathed all his hidden blades and sprinted for Sugar Rush. The Templar slashed another wave of darkness at him, but this time, he leapt clear over the deadly arc, spinning himself back to his feet before resuming his advance. Sugar took a surprised step back before cutting downwards with her black sword, slashing a vertical wave forward. Frigid took a step to the right and hopped ahead, feeling the warmth of the blast behind him as he lashed out with a trident blade. The Templar caught the blade with her own, parrying a few more of Frigid’s attacks while trying to find an opening for another attack. The other Templar emerged from behind the sculpture, but Frigid simply spun a bladed foot over, slashing him across the chest, knocking him down. Sugar Rush took the small window of chance and slashed down. Frigid caught the sword in both trident blades, holding the black crystal up inches from his face as the grey haired Templar pushed down with all her might. Frigid put his legs into it, keeping it up, while slowly pushing it back towards her. A soft cracking could be heard as Frigid continued to get the blades away from himself, noticing cracks forming along the crystalline blade. Before he could try anything else, both Frigid and Sugar were blown back with what felt like the force of a bomb, something Frigid knew from experience. Frigid pushed himself off the ground, noticing a constant ringing in his ears, which didn’t soften as he put his hands to his ears. Sugar Rush lay on the other side of the square, holding only the handle of her sword; the black blade was gone. She also began to recover from the blast, taking a look at her destroyed weapon. She pointed at Frigid and said something, but the Assassin couldn’t hear her. She turned around and began hobbling away, leaving the sword handle on the ground. Frigid didn’t give chase, instead, falling to a sitting position as he waited for the ringing in his ears to die out. It was having a serious effect on his balance, forcing him to sit still and wait. Well, this is just brilliant. Way to let her leave, Frigid. He saw a pair of shoes stop in front of him, looking up to see an angry-looking Keila looking down at him with her arms crossed. Perfect. Now we have her too. She began saying something, but Frigid still couldn’t hear any of it. Then he noticed the people behind her. Civilians, still watching them from the stalls and buildings. Keila bent down and hauled Frigid up under an arm and took off, heading away from the bazaar and probably began heading towards a safehouse or at least some place more isolated. “...you thinking…?” was the first thing Frigid heard as his ears started to regain their functionality. Footsteps, crowd chatter, and Keila’s voice increased in volume around him. “I told you to wait! Why didn’t you listen?” “I had it,” Frigid groaned as they stopped inside a small building. The room had a single couch and nothing else. He slowly walked to a wall and leaned against it as he slid down to a comfortable position. “I even managed to break that special weapon of hers. Where were you?” “Stuck in the crowds, thanks to you.” The Saddle Arabian Assassin was mad, but she still tended to Frigid’s injuries, grabbing cloth and ointment from a small box under the couch. “I thought you agreed with your Mentor that you were going to be a team player?” “I did. And I did tell you my plans.” Frigid pushed her hands away and waved. “I’ll be fine. Are you?” “I’m fine. You do realize that our Mentors are going to have some serious words with you once we get back?” “What? I did as I was told. I shared my plans with you. And besides, the Templars had a new weapon. A powerful one. At least I managed to break it.” Keila rolled her eyes. “Think, why don’t you. If that was the only weapon of its kind, why’s a random Templar who’s not even in the inner circle have it? There are more out there, and my hunch is always right in these cases.” Frigid looked away from her and checked out his sleeves. “At least I figured out how to break one. It just requires a lot of pressure. It’s only effective from a good distance away.” “Yeah, whatever. What kind of Assassin just goes out into open combat like that? Don’t they teach sneaking where you come from?” “How were we going to sneak there? The crowd thinned, there was no cover to use, and they were probably expecting us. Sometimes, combat is what you need. That’s why we train in more than just sneaking. Don’t you Assassins?” “You could have used a smoke bomb or used a disguise,” Keila shot back. “There were at least three ways I could see to get to Sugar Rush without being spotted.” “Well, you didn’t. Maybe next time you should move faster.” “Only because your own lone wolf complex didn’t allow for any kind of teamwork at all. We’re supposed to work together, in case you missed the memo?” Frigid sighed and checked his trident blade functions. “Isn’t informing you of my plans more than enough? I personally think comparing plans would only slow us down. It’s better to act on instinct than to talk about it.” Frigid pulled down his hood and smoothed his hair out. “That would all take too much. Time the Templars could use to counter your plans.” Keila was so outraged that she actually took a step backwards. “By the sands, what is your problem, Frigid Night? What you’re saying contradicts everything we’re taught as Assassins. Do you think it’s permanently opposite’s day, or are you just that thick?” Frigid stood up and turned his back to her. “Doesn’t matter. We should get back to the bureau. We’ve got a weapon to investigate.” “Fine,” Keila vaulted out the window and onto the balcony. “Meet you at the bureau.” And with that, she was gone. And so was Frigid’s guide to the maze of streets and alleys that led back to base. “Blast.”