//------------------------------// // Chapter 96: Avengers // Story: A Long Way to Fall // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// Shadowstrike and Rose Petal had took down a platoon of Dragon Unit soldiers when a loud explosion sounded somewhere in the city, grabbing their attention. “What was that?” Rose said as she spun her tonfa in her grip. “Trouble?” “Sounded big. Very big,” Shadowstrike tried to look over the cityline, but saw nothing except for a pillar of smoke rising up from the north side. “Vehicle explosion, maybe?” “Maybe…” Rose agreed. “I just hope it’s not one of ours. Mentor Steel Shine and a few others were heading down from the airport. I hope nothing went wrong there.” “Yeah. Come on, Rose. We’re almost to our target. He shouldn’t be far.” “Unless the explosion scared him away.” Shadowstrike shot her a serious look, which was partially ruined by a faint laugh. “Think positive, my friend. It helps. Sometimes. Maybe.” The two Assassins ran down the dirty streets, heading towards their target’s location. Rose Petal would normally stop to ask why there was so much rubbish on the road here, but she figured now wasn’t the time. Their target, Oil Spill, was holding a small Templar outpost near the center of the city and the Assassins had no plans on letting him take the heart of Masyaf. The reports from the recon team said that the man had a black blade of his own, along with a squad of Talon’s Dragon Unit. Rose Petal was surprised the Templar still had so many men to throw at them. She guessed they had killed at least three hundred of them already, and still, more were showing up. Unless he had a whole country full of soldiers, Rose had no idea where he restocked them. “I think I see the outpost,” Shadowstrike pointed ahead. Rose followed his direction and noticed a small chain-linked fence with a spindly guard tower behind it. “Wow. That was easy enough.” They continued down, using what cover they could, just in case the sentry in the tower were to look at them. He had a rifle in his hands, and by the looks of it, it was a hunting rifle. They didn’t want to risk testing his aim, so both Assassins ducked down into a lower street and ran along the wall, out of sight from the watchtower. “Lead the way, Shadowstrike,” Rose smiled as she fell back a step. “You know the city better than I do. I hope.” “Trust me. I do,” he chuckled and took out his katars. He dug them under a manhole and yanked the heavy piece of metal up before shifting it with his hands. “After you,” he motioned with a bow. “Why thank you, Shadow.” Rose Petal folded her tonfa and kept it before swinging herself down. The Eastern Assassin grabbed the first rung of the ladder and made her way down, keeping an eye below her just in case. She hopped off as she neared the bottom, touching the slimy ground with an echoing thud. “Clear!” she shouted up to her Saddle Arabian partner. “Pretty dark down here. Are you sure it’s safe?” “I’m hoping so,” he gulped as he landed beside her. “It’s still daytime up top, so I think their Grand Master will still be hiding out indoors somewhere.” “I hope you’re right, Shadow…” Just thinking back to tales she had heard of Sombra gave Rose Petal the creeps. The purple haired Assassin didn’t bother to pull out any sources of light. Instead, he led the way in total darkness. Rose had no idea where she was going, but Shadowstrike had taken hold of one of her hands, just in case they get separated, which made her feel much safer. The sewers were completely quiet, except for the occasional drip of water, or one of their footsteps sounding louder than they should. Rose still couldn’t see anything in any direction, but Shadowstrike seemed to know where he was going, so she held strong. “This tunnel should lead us right under them,” he explained in the dark. “Unless they’ve done something to the entrance, we can surprise those Templars right up their butts.” “We’ll see, won’t we?” Rose chuckled, her laughter carrying across the walls around the darkness. “How can you tell where we’re going, Shadow? How do you see in all this?” “It’s instinct, Rose. As a Saddle Arabian Assassin, we learn to hone our senses in the shadows from early on. The darkness is like a second home to us, although now, it seems we’ve got competition, and that competition is a lot stronger than all of us combined.” “We’ll take him down, Shadow,” Rose gripped firmly on his hand. “We’ll clear the Templars away from Masyaf and retake your home. That’s why we’re here, are we not?” “Thanks, Rose.” The Saddle Arabian Assassin had a bit more confidence in his voice, and Rose was glad she could help out. Soon, Shadowstrike stopped by a wall before Rose began hearing clinking sounds. He was climbing a ladder. “Just grab on to the rails and make your way up,” she heard his voice from above. “But if you still can’t find them, just wait a bit. Once I get the manhole cover up, you should be able to see.” Rose felt around the walls, eventually finding a cool metal rung before searching for the next one above it, followed by the next few. She had gone up about six more rungs before she heard the manhole being pushed open as light shot down from above, lighting the way ahead for her. “Finally…” Rose Petal continued climbing much faster than before, eventually hopping out of the hole as Shadowstrike put the cover back in place. “So this is the place?” “Yeah,” he nodded and brought her attention to the watchtower, just over a row of tents. The guard’s back was faced to them now. “See? We’re in. Now all we have to do is find our target, kill him and as many guys as we can, and get out.” “Sounds easy when you put it that way,” the Eastern Assassin whispered. “Let’s go.” The two Assassins ducked among the tents, searching for any Templars that might be inside. Since the sun was still up, most of the tents were unpopulated, except the last one, where a single Templar stood guard over another man. “Oil Spill,” Rose tapped her partner’s shoulder. There he was. The target they were after. “I’ll take the guard. You can get the man himself.” “As you wish, Rose.” Shadowstrike equipped both katars on his hands and got into a low crouch. Rose nodded and both moved in quickly, dashing for their respective targets as the Templars turned to see what the commotion was. Rose drove the bladed tip of her tonfa into the guard before pulling up, disemboweling the man. Shadowstrike had swiped his weapons at the other Templar, but Oil Spill was quick enough to throw himself back and to pull out his new weapon. Shadowstrike leapt to the side as the black crystal blade tore a hole through this tent and the next, which the Templar immediately used to get away from them. “He’s getting away!” Shadowstrike yelled and chased after him. Rose hopped out after them and pulled one of the needles from her hair. She took aim and with a quick flick, sent the needle right into Oil Spill’s arm. The Templar looked down as the sword fell from his hand before the whole limb went limp. Shadowstrike smiled and swooped in on him, knocking him down before sticking a katar into the back of the target’s neck. “You’ll… never win…” the man gasped as he fought for air below the Assassin. “That’s what you all say,” Shadowstrike moved off Oil Spill’s back and crouched in front of him. “But we will. One Templar at a time.” Instead of rebuking the Assassins like all other targets did, Oil Spill raised his voice as much as he could and bellowed, “ASSASSINS! KILL THEM!” He laughed one last time before breathing his last. Shadowstrike had no time to give the man his rites as soldiers wielding guns and black swords rushed in, their weapons already trained on the Assassins. “Well, that was… bad,” the purple haired Assassin said out as he readied his weapons. “We can’t fight them all. And it’ll take some time to get that manhole open again.” “Smoke bombs,” Rose reminded him, holding three of the orbs in her fingers. She tossed it down and watched as smoke enveloped the area, allowing the Assassins to move. Shadowstrike took the opportunity to cut down a few Templars as Rose made for the manhole, getting it open while the Saddle Arabian took down as many Templars as he could. With one final pull, Rose had lifted the manhole high enough to push it away. Quickly beckoning for her fellow Assassin, she hopped down first, landing in the darkness of the sewer before Shadowstrike landed in after her. The manhole was left open, but they didn’t have time to close it. Both Assassins headed in the direction they had come from and when the light had faded, Shadowstrike led the way again, guiding Rose by her hand. “Good work, Rose,” he called back as they moved away at a faster pace, just in case the Templars were to follow. “That was some good throwing. What was that?” “Pressure needle,” she replied. “I’m able to render his body immobile if I hit the right nerve points.” “How?” was all Shadowstrike could ask. “How do you know where to hit?” “Years of practice. Like how you learn to walk in the shadows.” “Not bad. Perhaps you could teach it to me some time.” “Sure. We could trade.” Both Assassins shared a laugh before more footsteps sounded in a tunnel to their right. Or at least, Rose thought it was from the right. It was just too dark to see. “You hear that?” “Could be trouble. Careful.” Just then, a flashlight cut through the darkness in an adjacent tunnel as two shadowy figures moved about, heading towards the Assassins. “Back!” Shadow hissed and pushed Rose against the side wall. Rose unsheathed her hidden blade and waited for the figures to arrive. As soon as the first one had passed, the red haired Assassin lashed an arm out and caught the second person from the back, pointing her hidden blade at his head. “No sudden moves,” she warned. “H-Help! Dewdrop!” the man yelped. Rose recognized the voice immediately. She let go of his neck and turned him around as his partner ran back to him. “High Noon! Dewdrop! You’re both here!” “Oh, it’s just you, Rose,” High Noon gasped, still recovering from the shock. Dewdrop walked over and shone her flashlight at the trio of Assassins. “Hi, Rose. Who’s this?” “Shadowstrike, at your service,” he bowed. “I’m from the Saddle Arabia bureau.” “What brings you two down here?” Rose asked the two lost Assassins. “We were escaping a group of Templars,” High Noon breathed and adjusted his hood. “There weren’t any other ways out, so we headed down here instead. They had us in a carpark, but Dew and I hid in a car. The Templars never left, so in the end, we had to make our way down here as quietly as we could.” “Well, they wouldn’t have stayed if you didn’t try to have your way with me.” “What?” Even in the dark, Rose could see the cowboy’s cheeks burn red. “I never… I did no such thing! We didn’t get… uh, we did nothing!” “Have your way with her?” That piqued Shadowstrike’s interest. “You should’ve seen him! As soon as we got into the car, he pushed me down and did all sorts of things to me! Noon’s really great at that sort of thing, though.” Dewdrop put a hand to her flustered face, while High Noon’s turned completely red. “I never!” he objected. “I on-only hid us f-from the Templars!” “Whatever. Doesn’t matter,” Rose interrupted them. “What you two do when you’re alone is not my business, but we should head out and get back to the bureau.” “But, I didn’t-” “Not now, Noon. We’ll discuss this later,” Rose said. Though, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what kind of things High Noon had done with Dewdrop. “Okay, if you would follow me,” Shadowstrike said and led the way. Dewdrop and High Noon hung at the back with the flashlight, while Rose walked along behind Shadowstrike. “I never did any of that, Dew! W-well, besides the kissing...” High Noon whispered over. “What are you telling them?” “It was only a joke,” she patted him on the arm. “No need to get all embarrassed about it. Unless, you really did want to do more things to me?” “No!” he hissed. “I-I never… I didn’t! It wasn’t part of the plan.” “You sure you aren’t even thinking about that sort of thing?” “I… Well…” The cowboy was lost for words. “Besides, you were the one that kissed me first.” Dewdrop batted her eyelashes at him. “I only did it to see if you would take the bait. I didn’t think you’d be so easy.” “That’s because… because…” High Noon groaned and covered his face. “Because you still like me?” Dewdrop pressed her body against his arm and smiled at him with half-lidded eyes. “Uh… Oh boy, it’s really dark down here, isn’t it?” High Noon began whistling. “Watch your step, Dew.” Rose Petal chuckled in front. It seemed there was more to the story than she was made to believe, though did they mention there was kissing involved? “These two always like that?” Shadowstrike pointed a thumb to the rear. “Not that I knew,” she shook her head, but smiled. “I never knew they were this close. They’ve both lost important people in their lives. This must be one way they’re coping with it.” “That blue hair one seems to be taking it rather well. What’s her name again? Dewdrop?” “Yeah, Dewdrop. I don’t think so,” Rose looked back at them as the group made another turn in the tunnels. Dewdrop was still clinging on to the cowboy. “I think she’s taking it harder than High Noon. That’s why she’s projecting up so much teasing. She still misses her old partner.” “We all lose friends and family in this job,” Shadowstrike sighed. “It’s part of us. We learn to accept it and move on, and when we go into battle, we carry their  strength and will with us, making sure to accomplish what they couldn’t.” “I guess you’re right, Shadow.” Rose Petal thought back to Dust Fencer. In reality, she hadn’t really moved past his death just yet. Sure, she wasn’t all hung up that he had passed on, but she still thought about him occasionally. He had been her and Trueshot’s best friend, and the three of them were a really close team. He was also the pillar holding all of them up. When he had died, Trueshot and Rose had no idea what to do, while Frigid had drifted off into the state he was in now. Loss was something they had to deal with, but it handled differently with every Assassin. Rose quickly muttered a silent promise to her old friend as they approached the end of the tunnel. We’ll avenge you, Dust. We’ll avenge all of you.