A Long Way to Fall

by Cinders of War

Chapter 27: Cough Dropped

Frigid Night had never been happier to be with his partner. In the past two days, they'd spent more time together than the last six months combined. Eventually, their quality time had to end. They were Assassins and they had a job to do. This time, their mission was to spy on a Templar agent called Cough Drops and gain as much intel as they could.

"Why do you suppose he has a name like that?" Frigid's curiosity took over as they rode to Manehattan in a train.

Mirror rested her head against his shoulder and laughed. "Who knows, Friggy. Maybe his parents wanted him to be a doctor."

"Ha ha. Perhaps."

Seated in the train with all kinds of people, Frigid and Mirror looked like any other ordinary couple, but what they were about to do was something no ordinary person would do.

The train began to slow as it arrived at the station, soon coming to a stop on the platform. Frigid and Mirror got up and filed out with the other people, making their way past the opened doors and out of the station.

"Ground, or rooftops?" Frigid asked for his partner's preference.

"You know which I prefer," Mirror smiled and took his hand.

The Assassins made their way to a narrow alley and made their way up, quickly scaling the wall right up to the roofs. The two of them traversed the rooftops towards the heart of the city, where the Board of Education’s main building was. It was quite the run, as Frigid felt the strong winds blow against his face as they made for the large brownish building. That was one thing about being an Assassin that he enjoyed. The freedom of running and climbing on missions.

"Here we are!" Mirror stopped as she arrived first. She and Frigid had stopped on an adjacent building, most likely an office for cereal or something, both noticing a mascot with food in its mouth on the side of the building. "So what's the plan, partner?"

"We'll need to find out which floor that Templar is on." Frigid looked up at the building as both Assassins pulled their hoods on. The Board's building was at least thirty floors high, and they had to find Cough Drops on one of those floors. It was almost like a needle in a haystack here. Frigid put a hand to his chin. "There must be a way to narrow it down..."

"Eagle vision."

Frigid nodded and focused his vision, watching as most of his view turned dark blue, while some white and red shapes moved around in the building.

"Nothing so far..." Frigid turned his head to look through more windows. "Just civilians and some hostiles."

"We might have to get higher," Mirror said before climbing up the roof's water tank.

Mirror turned around and helped Frigid up as he followed, making sure he was safely atop the tank before letting go. The tank gave them sight of three additional floors. If Cough Drops wasn't here, they were going to have to scale the building, searching each floor until they found their target.

Then he saw it. A tinge of a golden glow by one of the windows. It was a man on the phone, walking to stand at the window, but left after a few seconds.

"Up there," Frigid pointed. "You saw him?"

"Sure did," Mirror nodded before leaping off the water tank. "Come on. Let's get some spying done."

After memorizing the window's location, Frigid took the jump first, flying off their roof towards the Board building. It was quite a fall but he eventually grabbed on to one of the ledges, the stony structure almost knocking all the wind out of him when he landed.

"Oof!" Mirror let out as she landed close to him. "You alright, Friggy?"

"Somewhat. You?"

"I'm good."

Frigid nodded as the Assassins began their climb, navigating towards the window where they had seen Cough Drops earlier. They made sure to avoid the windows, just in case a Templar, or even a civilian were to spot them. Bringing the cops in on this mission wasn't a good idea.

"So, Friggy," Mirror tried to make some small talk as they made their climb. "What do you think Cough Drops is like? You think he's a dangerous one?"

"Doesn't sound like it..." Frigid guessed as he grabbed a brick that was sticking out to haul himself higher. "He's the Templar's media spokesperson. I mean, all he does is deal with the news and stuff right? Doesn't seem like a fighter to me."

"Guess not..." Mirror panned her head above. "Which one was it again?"

"That one right there." Frigid pointed to one about three bodies diagonally left, but he could only direct her view so far from this distance.

He kicked off the ledge he was standing on and grabbed the next one, keeping himself under the window as a Templar guard stood there, looking out the window. He caught Mirror as she hopped up next to him, both of them keeping low under the window.

"Guess we'll just wait for him to leave?" Mirror looked into Frigid's blue eyes.

"Yup." Frigid gave her a strong look. They weren't going to let a simple guard ruin their mission. After about two minutes, the man hadn't moved, still looking out the window at the city below. "Maybe we can get around it some way."

Frigid looked to his left and right, looking for another object to grab onto to get higher. Next to the window, there was a steel pipe, leading along the side of the building. Frigid stood up on the side of the window with Mirror holding on to his legs, just in case he were to fall. It was a long way to fall, and he wasn't planning on dying today. He grabbed the pipe with one hand and tested its strength. After making sure it was stable enough, he grabbed on with both hands and shimmied himself along, his legs dangling over the air.

"Careful, Friggy!" Mirror tensed as she watched him go.

Frigid gripped his fingers tighter around the pipe as he moved to the approximate halfway mark. Unfortunately, the pipe started getting wobbly as he proceeded, lacking enough metal holds around the middle part of the pipe, probably because the builders didn’t expect people to be climbing along it. Frigid didn’t trust the metallic object to hold him any longer. He looked above and around to find something else he could hold on to, preferably before the pipe gave way. The closest thing was a windowsill at least two meters above him, or a wall ledge just a short distance to the side. Frigid didn’t take long to decide, immediately kicking off the side of the building while letting go of the pipe.

Here we go!

Frigid grabbed the ledge, hanging on tight as his body swung to the left, almost throwing him off the side of the building, but luckily, he was trained well. Frigid decided he was going to thank Dust, Rose and Trueshot a whole bunch when he got back. If it weren’t for them, who knows where he would be today. Probably in a hole in the ground.

“Made it,” Frigid smiled and gave Mirror a thumbs up, while holding on with his other hand and an elbow.

“Don’t you scare me like that again, Friggy!” Mirror put a hand to her chest to calm her heart rate. “Hang on. I’ll join you in a bit.”

Mirror waited for Frigid to climb up the ledge before getting into a good stance. Frigid’s eyes widened when he realized what his girlfriend was about to do. “Mirror, I don’t think-”

Mirror ran three steps before launching herself towards the pipe. She grabbed on with one hand and swung herself off towards Frigid, the momentum carrying her towards her partner. Frigid quickly caught on to her hand and swung her up to the ledge he was on before helping her up next to him.

“I don’t think it was a good idea…” Frigid panted from the shock and sudden strength he had to use.

“Well, I made it just fine, didn’t I?” Mirror softly punched him in the arm before giving him a kiss on the cheek. “All thanks to you, Friggy. Let’s get going.”

The rest of the climb was straightforward, just being one hold after the next. The Assassins soon found themselves outside Cough Drops’ window, watching the man pace the room, a phone held to his head. He had dark blue hair and a small moustache over an older worn out face, clearly from recent stress.

“...no sir, I didn’t mean it like that,” they heard Cough Drops say. “I’m just saying, the machine is making us reckless. I’ve been covering up too many incidents as of late… Yes. Even my daughters are getting suspicious of my activities. I don’t know what else to do.”

“Seems like Mahogany’s made the work easier for us these last few months then?” Frigid voiced his opinion as they stood to the sides of the window. “He must be truly desperate to get that machine working.”

Cough Drops eventually settled himself in a red cushioned chair by his large wooden desk. “Yes, yes. Of course it is, chairman, but what if this machine just doesn't work? What if the artifact just can't power it? Oh, no. I don't mean to say you're wrong, but... Yes sir. I guess you're right."

"Woah, wait..." Frigid put up a hand, as if calling for a pause. "They're using the artifact to power the machine?"

"Sounds like it," Mirror agreed. Her eyes seemed, to Frigid, unusually distant, as if she were recalling some long past event. "But he also said the machine still doesn't function the way the Templars want it to."

"We still have time," Frigid concluded.

"Uh, Chairman Wood," Cough Drops said, as he straightened himself in his seat. "One more thing before you go. Yes, I know. You're a busy man, but it's about my older daughter, Citrus. She'll be graduating soon, and she's told me she wants to work alongside me... Yes. Nothing wrong with it. I welcome it... but I have one request."

Mirror licked at her lips, as if she just ate something delicious.

"This world... This secret war... I don't want her involved. It's much too dangerous for her, and I don't want her to know what I really do here. I don't know what I would do if she got hurt because of me. Could you keep this one request for me, chairman? Please?"

Frigid felt conflicted for a moment; he hadn’t ever stopped to think that even Templars had loved ones too. I guess that’s what this life does to you, he thought with a grimace. It’s so easy to see the Templars as just the enemy.

"So what now, Friggy?" Mirror asked after pulling her eyes away from the man with a satisfied smirk. "What's your call?"

Frigid sighed. The man had given them enough information, but he was an important member in the Templar circle. If they took him out, the Templars were going to have a tougher time in the world. "Cough Drops has a family too, but... I... I think we have to... Kill him. He's too valuable to the Templars."

Mirror closed her eyes for a few seconds before nodding. "Whatever you say. Shame to waste him like this though."

"Alright." Frigid didn't want to kill the man, but it would be a great help to their cause. Without Cough Drops around to control the media, the Templars would have to risk playing it more carefully, or risk exposure.

He was about to smash the window and enter, but the thoughts of the Templar's family came into Frigid's mind again. If he killed this man, his daughters and wife would go on without a father for the rest of their lives. Was he the one to decide the fate of a Templar's family?

Frigid clenched his fists. You have to do this, Frigid. Just remember all the other Templars you've killed. You can do this. He chose his side long ago.

Frigid raised an elbow and smashed through the window, the shattering of the glass startling the Templar out of his chair and towards his desk.

“C-chairman! Assassins!” The Templar still had his phone to his face, slowly retreating for the door as Frigid and Mirror climbed in. “They’ve come! I-in the building!”

Frigid unsheathed both hiddens blades and approached the man, who fell back over a little bump in the carpet on the floor.

“Please, no!” Cough Drops gulped as he tried to get away on all fours, his phone left at the spot where he fell. “I don’t want trouble.”

“You asked for trouble when you decided to aid the Templars in their cause,” Frigid simply said, continuing to walk towards the cowering man. Mirror Match stood by behind her partner, watching the Templar with narrowed eyes.

“You don’t see it!” Cough Drops yelled back as he fought to his feet and the door. “Mahogany plans to unite the world! You Assassins plan to tear it down!”

The man suddenly jumped back towards the door and pulled down a bookshelf, yanking the door open and running through as Frigid dodged to the side to avoid the falling wood.

“You okay, Friggy?” Mirror asked as she helped him up. They looked to the open doorway to see the Templar retreating down a hallway. “He’s getting away.”

They chased the man down several hallways, Cough Drops pulling down various pieces of furniture to keep him just far enough ahead. For an older guy he wasn’t that bad at running.

A filing cabinet crashed down in front of a door, barring it shut. Frigid slammed against the thin wood, feeling it give a little.

“This isn’t working,” Mirror sniffed irritably. “You get this door unstuck, I’ll go cut him off. He’s heading down the east fire escape to the carpark.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do, okay?” The female Assassin winked at Frigid and leapt out the nearest window, leaving him alone.

Frigid grunted and continued to try getting the door open. He put his shoulder against the door and pushed as hard as he could. The weight of the cabinet budged slightly, but still left no room for Frigid to get around. Frigid stepped back and let out a howl of irritation before kicked at the door as hard as he could. The wooden entrance splintered in the middle and fell apart in an instant, giving Frigid more space to push against the cabinet.

“Come on, move it!” he yelled at the cabinet as he pushed, finally pushing it out of the way just enough for himself to squeeze through.

The Assassin made his way through a small office, a man seated at the table jumped back when he saw Frigid run past, almost falling out of his chair. Frigid didn’t have time to deal with him, instead leaping out the open window to a fire escape. He looked down, watching as Cough Drops descended the ladder at the bottom of the metal staircase, almost to the ground floor already.

“Here goes nothing…” Frigid said to himself.

He grabbed on to the railing and flipped himself over, letting go when his body was straightened and dropped to the next railing. He got his timing right as he grabbed the next railing under him, continuing the method as he made his way down. It was a lot faster than taking the stairs, but a lot riskier. About three floors down, Frigid’s hand slipped and he plummeted past three more floors before managing to grab on to the railing on the lower floor.

Frigid looked down to see how lucky he was before pulling himself back up to the fire escape’s grated floor. “Not doing that again…”

He continued the rest of the way down, taking three steps at a time. The stairs were going to be slower, but at least he managed to reduce a lot of distance between himself and the fleeing Templar. Looking down, Frigid was just two floors above the Templar now. Cough Drops had already arrived at the bottom and was running as fast as he could towards a black car in the parking lot.

Frigid decided and hopped off the second floor’s fire escape, landing with a roll on the cement below. He felt a spike of pain lance up his left leg when he landed, but ignored it for now. He had to catch Cough Drops before he could get away. The pain mustn’t have been a big deal, because Frigid found he could still run at a good pace, almost catching up with the Templar now. He quickly saw his chance as the man fumbled with his car keys. Frigid jumped and kicked off a black SUV, launching himself over the man, his back still to Frigid. The Assassin landed on him, knocking him against the side of the car before sliding down to the hard ground.

“Gah!” Cough Drops shouted as his head hit the floor.

Before the man could recover, Frigid raised an arm and unsheathed the hidden blade, swiftly bringing it back down into the side of Cough Drops’ neck, the blade entering the soft skin and puncturing the man’s trachea easily.

“Why…?” Cough Drops wheezed as Frigid turned him around. “Why... do you do... this…?”

“To keep the world going, just the way it should,” Frigid voiced and kept his hidden blade. “It’s not meant to be ruled by a single person or a single organization.”

“How… do you plan… on keeping things… from… descending into chaos… Assassin?” Cough Drops reached a hand to his neck to ease the pain as he spoke. “Without us… there is no… order…”

Frigid thought about it, but he didn’t have an answer for the man. “I… I don’t know, but what I do know is that your Templar order is no order. It’s only perfect on your terms. That’s not order.”

“Say all you want… but you know… we’re the only way… Take care… Assassin…” Running out of time and breath, Cough Drops closed his eyes and went limp.

“Find peace,” Frigid told the man’s body. The Assassin moved Cough Drops’ hands to his chest and put him in a straighter position before standing up. Honouring him was the least he could do for his family.

Frigid heard footsteps behind him and turned around, brandishing both hidden blades, only to see it was his partner, running up to join him.

“Looks like you got him.” Mirror looked at the body, almost unsurprised.

“Yeah…” Frigid sighed, remembering the man’s conversation with his boss. “Are you alright? You took your time coming to find me.”

“I’m fine, Friggy,” Mirror said and tried to wave away his worry. “Just took a while to get here. Climbing down isn't as easy as it looked.”

The sound of shouting and sirens started flowing through their ears as they stood over the fallen Templar.

"We better head out." Mirror bent down and picked up the car keys. "Why take the train when we can drive back, right?"

Comments

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

Cough Drops. Father of Citrus Drops from Leap of Faith? So he knew about all the Templar business but chose not to get Citrus involved. Fine job he did, she got killed anyway.

[Sonata Eternal]

So this is her dad huh? I guess he went and met his match, unfortunate. He was nice enough wanting to spare Citrus the nasty details of what they do though.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

It's never black and white, Frigid. This war has alot of grey. All wars do in some way. Resquiat in pace Cough Drops. May thee and thy family find peace eternal.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

Good story though, very conflicting to.

Another master piece Cinders.

[MoonlightRift]

"This world... This secret war... I don't want her involved. It's much too dangerous for her, and I don't want her to know what I really do here. I don't know what I would do if she got hurt because of me. Could you keep this one request for me, chairman? Please?"

Oh. Oh.
Isn't she the one that got killed because of Frigid in Leap of Faith? Damn, that's.. wow.

[MoonlightRift]

also more sus mirror activity