Chapter 10
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Headshot and Pain snuck pass the guards through the alley way
"Hey..." Headshot said to the Summoner. "Stay quiet, alright."
The mare nodded. "Why are we sneaking pass?" She asked silently.
"I may or may not be the most wanted stallion in Canterlot." Headshot said and knocked out two guards and dragged them into the alley. "And besides, sneaking in is much more fun."
Pain stepped over the two guards. "But do we have a place to stay? We can't just stay in the streets."
Headshot removed the guards armor and quickly strapped it on, hiding his Cutie-mark. "Of course, I have a safe-house near the castle."
Pain's eyes shot open. "Near the castle!?!" She almost yelled and caught the guard's uniform that Headshot threw at her. "As in the Canterlot Castle!?! The most heavily guarded area in Canterlot!"
"Yup.Nopony would suspect anything." Headshot said and left the alley and headed straight to the castle. "You coming or what?"
Pain stared silently at the stallion. She sighed and followed him.
Headshot and Pain walked through the street, thugs and guards alike eyed them as they walked swiftly.
"I-I think we're attracting too much attention." Pain whispered.
"Nonsense, we're fine." Headshot said and saw a large banner on the castle walls. "The... hell?" He muttered.
The large banner had the words in Pegalatin that said. "Fight for freedom! Fight for me!" And it bore the picture of his brother standing on top Anarchy.
"Do you know him?" Pain asked.
Headshot took Pain by the hoof and quickly led off to his Safe-house. He paid no mind to the ponies that stared at them as they ran pass.
Headshot and Pain arrived at the Canterlot Library and he quickly tapped on the side of it. "Silence is golden." He muttered and several clicks were heard inside the building. "Nothing is true." He said and more clicks and turning gears were heard inside. "I live only for Luna and the Creed." The walls began to spread open and led to a large spiral stairway that descended down to the old mazes of Canterlot.
Headshot and Pain crept silently through the old caverns of Canterlot. "Watch out for that pressure plate." Headshot said and both of them went over it. "Trip-wire." They both stepped over the trip-wire. "Motion sensor." Headshot said and threw a rock and spikes errupeted from the sides.
"What's with all these traps? Pain asked the sniper and pulled down a lever on their right instead of the one of the left.
"The ponies I worked with were very secretive." He said as both of them walked into a large room with an old stone table in the center, lit with candles and scents. "Looks like they're here, today." Headshot removed his disguise and Pain removed her's.
"The Brotherhood welcomes you, Master Assassin." A voice said at the other side of the room.
"Can it, Alty." Headshot said and went to the table. "Alty I'd like you to meet Pain. Pain, Alty."
"My name is Altair, which means Eagle. It's a pleasure to meet you." Altair said and extended his hoof.
Pain reached out and gave it a firm shake. "T-the pleasure is all mine." She said, meekly.
"Alty, straight to business." Headshot said and placed the two Vault keys on the table. "Does the Brotherhood have any information on the Vault, anything at all."
"You know the Archives more than anypony, sir." Altair said. The tan Pegasus extended his hoof and placed his gauntlet on the table and pulled back his white hood. "And the only ones who know about the whereabouts of the Vault had been killed by Anarchy."
"Yes... The Grand Master..." Headshot said solemnly. "But I know about another place that had the symbol of the Vault, one of the Assassin's nest."
"Yes, but that was over-run by bandits and the guards have bought it and made it into a base, sir." Altair said.
"The Bitter Springs branch, we lost many good men and women there, and now we are taking it back." Headshot said and pulled out an Eagle feather. "I have a target for you; The commander of the Bitter Springs weapons base."
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Firecracker set the airship to full speed, directly heading to Canterlot.
"E.T.A in ten minutes." She said and muttered. "Why don't you move faster you stupid hunk of junk."
Roland looked over the railing and smiled in awe. This was one of the few times he could see the ground from this high up, one of those times would be the time he crashed a buzzard into a mountain and the other time is when he nearly fell off of Sanctuary.
"This is awesome." He said. "Why don't we have airships on Pandora?"
Angel leaned against the railings. "Because the buzzards would shoot it down faster than a Skag puking up eridium." She said.
A high pitched beeping sounded on the airship.
"Royal guards! Ach..." Firecracker grunted in frustration. "You two, go man the cannons." She said and the floor opened up and revealed cannons on both sides of the ship.
"I'll man starboard, you man port." Roland said and went to the right cannon and loaded it.
Angel went to the other cannon and loaded it as well. Each cannon could hold five rounds. The two Vault hunters readied themselves as two large airships that bore the Equistrain flag flew beside them.
"Hold! We only want to check your cargo and permit and we'll be on our- OH! Sweet Celestia! It's her! Bring that ship down!" The ship on the starboard said yelled through the their P.A system.
Roland and Angel opened fire and broke through the enemy ship's exterior hull. One of the ships even caught on fire.
"Fire again!" Roland yelled to Angel and both of them fired their cannons and both the ship went down. "That's it? Too eas-"
The sound cannon balls hitting the wooden exterior of the S.S Firestorm and the earthquake equivalent shaking made the two Vault hunters loss their footing and stumble.
"Boggies on our six! Roland take them out!" Firecracker said. "Angel, man the front cannons!" Roland and Angel scramble back up and both of them went to their respective position.
"..." Firecracker looked over the radar and frowned. "Fifty... maybe a hundred... Sweet merciful Luna, that's a lot of them."
Roland tried to scan the skies but only found one airship. "What? There's only one of them."
"Stupid clocking magic.Cowards!" Firecracker yelled and steered the ship to the left, crashing into an invisible airship. "You don't need to aim! Just shoot EVERYTHING!"
Angel fired from the cannon, the sound of exploding gunpowder made quick work of the enemy airships.
The other airships began to return fire but Firecracker's horn began to glow bright red and the ship was engulfed in flames the burned through all the cannon balls that went through it to a smoldering crisp.
Firecracker rammed into another airship and it quickly burned them down, and because all of the ships were very close together, most of them were caught on fire from another airship.
The flaming shields began to fizzle and burn out. Firecracker began to pant and flipped a small switch. "I'm out for the count guys... I've set this thing on auto. Give 'em hell." Firecracker said and collapsed on the floor.
Roland fired at the airships. A few cannons managed to break through and even send Roland back a few feet. He went back to the cannon and quickly got his revenge and more.
Angel was blasting through each and every ship she sees. Several holes were on the ship and the deck, only a few meters away. It was strange for her to feel so... happy? Just blasting through. Maybe the bit of her friends were rubbing off on her. She smiled as another ship went down.
"Hey..." Roland said through the ECHO. "Do you think this is a bit too easy? I mean there are hundreds of these guys and we're-" Roland said and an explosion rang on the other side. "-just two humans against, possibly well trained guards, doesn't strike you as odd?"
"The four Vault hunters back on Pandora took on five buzzards with an entire hoard of bandits shooting down on them and all of them are still alive." Angel replied and a cannon ball broke her cannon, sending bits of it everywhere. "Uhh, problem over here."
Roland reloaded his cannon and resumed fire. "Can of busy here, and they had Respawn."
"They didn't use Respawn." She said as she was knocked back by a stray cannon ball. "I get another cannon from ... ugh that hurt... down below."
"Hurry up."
Angel ran down the steps quickly and found the store room, there was an insane amount of cannon balls that were stacked up together. She found an unused cannon at the far end of the room and she pushed it back to the stairs.
"How am I going to get this up?" She asked herself as several explosions sounded upstairs. "Hey Roland switch with me."
"Get up here, and I'll get that cannon." He said. "I don't think they're much of a problem though, only a few left... I think? I really don't know 'cause they're invisible but judging from the lack of cannon balls raining down on me, I'd say maybe a dozen left."
Angel ran up the stairs and tapped Roland on the shoulder. "Switch with me." She said.
Roland nodded and left the cannon and ran down the stairs and heaved the heavy cannon up the stairs. Years of running and shooting would make your muscles very tone.
Roland pushed the cannon to the front and loaded it and fired. Again, again, and again, all of them missing. "Where the hell are they?
"I don't know. There should be at least a half of a dozen more." Angel said.
Roland looked around and only was clear skies and an occasional bird. "Huh? Must of left?" He said and noticed a few more birds flying directly at them. "I don't think those are birds... Angel... We got a problem."
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Altair blended into the crowd, his hood and cloak swayed gently on the breeze.
He left the city effortlessly and slowly unfurled his wings. His wings had a few missing feathers, and fresh blood pour out of the closed bangages.
"It still hasn't properly healed? I guess it was really a stupid move." He muttered to himself as he closed his wings.
He went to the train station that was at the outskirts of town, he placed the bits on the counter and grabbed the ticket. He nodded at the pony in the ticket booth and hopped on.
Altair rested on the train ride to Bitter Springs, memories began flashing back to him as he began to daze off.
"Faster, Altair." Headshot said as the young Altair quickly attacked a magical dummy with a short blade. Headshot's wings were originally the same color as his coat, dark blue, but a certain fire loving filly may or may not have burned his wings.
"I'm doing the best I can! You're just older than me by a month and you made master before me, that doesn't make you any special!" Altair yelled at his supprior and snared. "Heck, I think I can even take you right now. Come and get me."
Headshot sighed and lifted his black wings and pulled out a dagger, a small crossbow dangled on his side as he unlatched it and it fell to the ground. "You know, you're gonna die if you keep acting like that."
"Shut up and fight, unless you're chicken." Altair taunted. "Baaa-cawww." Altair began to imitate a chicken and flapped his hooves and wings.
Headshot took the opening and threw the dagger and lodged itself inside Altair's shoulder, Headshot rushed at him and tackled him to the ground, sending his weapon sliding across the floor.
"That... was a cheap move..." Altair grunted as he tried to push Headshot off. "If I was prepared-"
"Would the enemy give you time to prepare?" Headshot said and removed the dagger, sending the blood out. "You have to be ready, even if you're injured and dying, ready to make that one last ditch effort to win, ready to take your opponent down with you, ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. I, and the other Masters, don't think you're ready."
"That's because you never give me a chance to prove myself!" Altair yelled as he got up, his hoof was covering his shoulder to minimize his lost of blood. "Give me a target and I will take him or her out, without a second thought."
Headshot punched the young assassin down to the floor. "Don't you ever forget about the others you killed, they won't forget you, their families won't forget you and their friends will never forgive or forget you. You have to be ready to take that burden or you will lose everything."
"I already lost everything! My family, my friends and everything I ever care about!" Altair yelled and stood up. "Never fight a stallion that has nothing to lose." He muttered.
"And that's what makes you blind and reckless." Headshot said. "You want a target, I'll give you a target. Follow me." Headshot opened his injured wings and took off despite the pain that shot through it.
Altair joined him in the air. "Master, where are we going?" He asked, he disliked the fact that he called him "Master".
"Don't call me 'Master' and I'm taking you to your target." He said.
They flew for a few hours and finally slowed down. "Our, I mean you're target is a pony by the name of Storm Bringer, if you need help-"
"I don't need it." Altair said and rushed down. Headshot following close behind.
"Wait! You don't even know who you're target is, a mare with a red mane and blue eyes. She has a few bodyguards with her and close connections to the death of the Prince of Saddle Arabia." He said. Altair had a bored look on his face. "Check around town, see if you can find out where she is."
"Right, I'm off." Altair said and flew down to street level.
He was in the town of Fillydelphia, on the western side of the Everfree Forest.
Ponies went by their usual day-in-day-out routines and ignored the young assassin. He blended right in and and stuck to the shadows. He managed to overhear a few old stallions talking about his target.
"Aye, the young lass should be leavin' soon, I hear." One of the stallions said.
"Shame, she was such a nice mare. Heck, she even fixed up town hall with her own money. Now that's generosity." The other one said with a huff. "My, if she was ever to be elected, I would vote for her."
"Same here, mate."
So she's leaving town? That won't save her. Altair thought and moved back into the crowd.
After a few hours of aimlessly walking, he decided to take to the airs. He unfurled his wings and shot up, scanning the surrounding area for any leads or info.
"This is getting me nowhere!" He yelled in frustration.
"Hey, did ya' hear about the mare that help rebuild the school?" Altair overheard a few Pegasi talking on a cloud.
"Yeah, she's a real doll that one, what was her name? Storm Bringer?" Altair crept onto a nearby cloud and listened attentively.
"Yeah, she's great... but she does have that limp, I don't know how she got it."
"Maybe we should do something to show our respect and concern."
"Sure, but what can we do? Send her some 'Get well soon cards'?"
"We'll think of something."
Altair left his cloud cover and hovered back down to the streets. He went to a nearby alley and thought of where to find his next clue.
"So, you're the Assassin who's out to get me." A very seductive voice came from behind Altair. "I was expecting Headshot to just shoot me in the head. A fast and clean death. To think he would send a rookie to hunt me."
"Say what you want, seductress.." Altair said, not turning his back.
"You're an Assassin, are you not? And we are in an alley, completely alone, and you can leave before the guards get here. So why don't you kill me now? No more planning." She said and ran her hoof over Altair's neck. "Surely a strong stallion like you could easily kill me."
"Because, Assassins kill those who abuse power, that was the sole reason that we were created." He said and turned around to face the mare. "And all the things I heard about you were good things. Things I would hear about a saint instead of a tyrant."
"A saint? I am far from a saint, my dear. Why don't you ask your Master. He might shed some light on the subject." She said and turned her attention to the sky. "Headshot! Come out! I know you're spying on us."
Headshot came down in front of the two ponies, staring at Altair with malice. "Why don't you kill her? She's right there!" He said and pointed a sharp dagger at the two of them.
Altair refused to step-aside and drew his own weapon.
"Altair, don't make me do this." Headshot said and stepped forward.
"Give me a good reason why I should let you hurt her?" Altair said and glared at Headshot.
Headshot dropped his dagger. "I am very proud of you." He said.
"What?"
Headshot moved closer to Altair and took his weapon. "No need for that." He said and threw it on the ground. "An Assassin must be ready to lose everything, and you said you didn't have anything to lose, you are wrong, my friend."
"You have the Brotherhood." Storm Bringer said.
"You have your morals." Headshot continued.
"And you have friends like us." Storm Bringer finished.
"Wait. What is going on here?" Altair said to the two ponies.
"Altair, I would like you to meet our top Assassin, Storm Bringer, the mare who assassinated the tyrant prince of Saddle Arabia all by herself." Headshot said with a hint of pride in his voice. "Trained her myself."
"You and about five more Masters." She rolled her eyes.
"An Assassin? You sent me to kill one of our own?!?" Altair said in shock and stepped back.
"I gave you a target, and here she is." Headshot said and motioned to the mare. "And you have done quite well in trying to find her."
"Didn't you want her dead? Did she do something that disrespects our Creed?" Altair said and looked at the mare who had an unreadable expression on her face.
"Did I give you an eagle feather?"
That was all that Altair needed to hear and showed his respect to the top Assassin. "I am sorry, Ma'am." He said with his most heart-felt apology.
"Get up."
"Get up."
"Get up."
"Get up, sir. The train has reached its destination." The train conductor said.
Altair shook off the drowsiness and jumped off the train. "Take a deep breath, Altair." He said to himself.
He was at the town of Sweet Water. A short walk away from Bitter Springs.
"Hey, Alty.Heard you were coming over." A voice said from his right.
"Storm? What are you doing here?" He asked the mare. He just noticed that she was in a wheelchair. "So... it's true..."
"Yeah, lost both my back legs, but I can still fly short distances." She said and rolled the wheels to move forward.
Altair went behind her and began to push her. "Can you get a new leg? Like Master Headshot has." He asked.
"Can't, my nerves are fried. It's a miracle I'm drooling all over myself in a hospital bed waiting for my mercy killing." She said in a strange up beat voice.
"Don't... say that..."
"You're the one who said it. 'Don't fight a pony who's got nothing to lose'. Well I don't anything to lose anymore. I can't do what I love and that makes me useless and I hate it."
"And you're the one who said 'You always have something to fight for' I don't want you turning your back on that." Altair said and pushed her through the semi-busy streets.
A few shops left the air with a wonderful aroma that made both Assassins hungry. A few ponies bought and sold a few flowers and knick-knack to passing ponies.
"Maybe we should grab lunch before we start." She said and pointed to an old Nieghpone restaurant.
"Wait, 'We'?"
"I'm tagging along as your support."
"WHAT?"