"I am still not sure if I can trust you." said Midnight warily, "But I will be fighting beside you because I trust the other you. I know that you are almost like him, but I don't know how you are different. So, I don't know.
"Don't worry Midnight. The difference is one that does not impeach my judgement. The two of us still think the same way. Most of the time anyway. I am, perhaps a little more likely to kill than he is. I trust that in the situation we will soon be in, that won't be a problem." I neglected to mention the other. It would only complicate the arrangement. We stood on a rooftop, overlooking the headquarters of the Gryphon's Legion. We stood with Kriea and Night Raven. An extra ESOG team had become available to us and had been enfolded into the plan as a backup team on this raid. They stood on a separate rooftop to the East of the compound. I had my customary weapons, Midnight, his sword and Night Raven, the same. Kriea was using a pair of small blades and a few shuriken in a pouch at her hip.
She stepped up to me and looked down at the buildings arrayed before us.
"Will this really work?"
"A war requires leaders. If we take out the leaders, they will be unable to commence their invasion. My real worry is that no one has seen or heard from the Gryphon king since this mess started. I believe that we might make a few discoveries about your people that an honorable being wouldn't like."
"What do you mean?"
"Who is leading the kingdom right now? That General shouldn't be in charge, but all of the orders come from him. Maybe it would be better if he was removed from the equation completely."
Suddenly, a firework burst upwards from the streets below and to the north, illuminating the sky. We all ducked low.
"The signal" hissed Night Raven.
"Then lets go." said Midnight. He disappeared. Night Raven took off from the roof, his wings spread and beating slowly, but powerfully. That left Kriea and myself on the rooftop.
Time for some fun.
Leave some alive if you can.
I make no promises.
The other took over, grabbing Kriea in my arms and leaping 30 meters into the air. We glided across the night sky before crashing down onto the roof of the main headquarters building. It stood a good 50 meters tall and dominated the compound. Midnight was on one of the adjacent structures and Night Raven was coming down to join him. The ESOG team had divided into two pairs as well and had moved to their own assigned buildings. Their incorporation had allowed us to hit 4 of the 6 buildings in the compound simultaneously, removing some of the need for stealth in favor of speed, but that only gave us some small leeway to work with.
I dropped Kriea on her feet and pulled out our set of rope. We each held onto one end with one hand and I dropped the coil between us. We each drew a blade.
"On three." I said.
"One." We each turned to a different side of the building.
"Two." We got set to run, wrapping the rope around our hands to aid the grip.
"Three!" We ran to opposite ends of the building and jumped. The rope snapped taught, dragging us down and through the windows of the building into a pair of rooms beyond. I had a shortsword in my hand and it swung as I burst through the window, releasing the rope with my other hand. My ability to track life energy coming into play as I smashed through the glass and dropped to the floor. A gryphon dropped next to me, it's throat open. There were two more in the room. My right hand swept back to the hilt of my longsword as my left struck again, cutting through the fabric and feathers protecting the second gryphon. The third had time to draw it's sword before I was upon it.
I parried the clumsy thrust with my shortsword before running him through with my farther reaching blade. It made a sickly wet sound as he slid off the end. I wiped the two dripping blades on his clothes before sheathing the longsword and drawing my other shortsword. In the close confines of a building, the latter would be better. I opened the door into the corridor outside and met Kriea, leaving the room opposite. She had blood on her face, but I probably did too. She turned left and so did I, heading in opposite directions down the hallway. I heard the sound of a body hitting the floor, but it wasn't Kriea. Then there was the sound of cracking wood and a massive hammer burst through the wall to my right. I had passed the barrier wall separating the two rooms, but to plan an ambush of this style in such a short time was still impressive.
I dropped, spinning and sliding before standing again. I shielded myself in energy and dove through the partially destroyed wall, ripping more of it open. The hammer swung again, this time down at me. I concentrated the shield and blocked the blow on one vambrace, strengthening my arm and shoulder with the force of the city. I got to my feet then, before kicking out and breaking the head off of the warhammer. A blade swung at me from the right-rear and I spun, blocking it with a shortsword before putting my other into his throat. Then I turned back to the other gryphon. He had dropped the remnants of his weapon and had drawn a broadsword.
He held it lightly in one hand like a fencer. His first swing was slow, but it was recovered quickly when I parried and came back to block my counter thrust towards his belly. He wasn't fast enough to stop me from cutting his sword arm though and his scream filled the room until I silenced him with his own decapitation.