A Long Way to Fall

by Cinders of War

Chapter 34: Sword and Shield

After handing the thumbdrive over to Pierce Network, Frigid wasted no time in searching for Fire Frenzy. If the Mentor wanted him to play by the rules, then he would do so, but it didn't mean he couldn't do things his way.

Frigid had gone straight up to Frenzy's room, starting his search there. He knocked on the door and waited three times, getting no reply from the fiery Assassin. After waiting another two minutes, Frigid headed away, searching the dojo, the canteen, even the armory, but found no sign of Frenzy.

Eventually, he relented and stopped a few Assassins to inquire Frenzy's location. Most of them had no idea, until Frigid found Silent Frame, sitting in her usual spot in the library.

"Fire Frenzy?" she asked, her face buried in a book. "Doesn't he usually sit around the lower levels? He's always waiting for an opportunity to get out there to kill some Templars."

"Thanks, Silent," Frigid nodded and headed down. If Frenzy was down there, that would make his job a lot easier, seeing as he could just walk over to Red Card after.

Frigid Night had planned to ask Fire Frenzy to help him out on a few contracts. If the two of them had the same agenda, perhaps he could find a way to get to Mirror faster.

Frigid spotted Fire Frenzy as soon as he entered the hall. Just across from Red Card's booth, behind the only tree in the room, the orange-skinned Assassin was sitting down, looking at something. As he got closer, he realized Frenzy was looking at a picture of Ice Flake.

Frigid approached him and called out. "Frenzy. Hi. I wanted to ask if you would help me with something."

The red and yellow haired Assassin scrunched up his face and squinted his eyes at the younger Assassin before stowing his picture and standing up. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to see if you want to do a contract together," Frigid started. "I... I need to find Mirror Match. I can't just let her go like this after what she did. I need to take her down."

"Why do you need my help?" Frenzy turned away and looked at the gray wall.

"Because you've deviated from the normal methods. I don't just want to take down Templars. I need information, and I need to make them feel what it's like to... be ripped apart."

"You've always told me to calm down. Not to fight like that."

Frigid looked down at his hands. He knew this question was coming, but he still didn't quite have an answer for it. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how you felt. To lose someone like that... It changes you. Now I know, so please, will you help me?"

Fire Frenzy thought about it for a few seconds before folding his arms. "Fine. But I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for Flake."

"Fine with me," Frigid released a faint smile. Now all they had to do was take up a contract. Then harvest as much information from the Templars as they could before finishing their mission.

---

Iron Coat. That was the name of the Templar, Frigid Night and Fire Frenzy were sent to take down. According to Red Card's dossier, the Templar was an arms dealer, transferring small arms to Templar outposts across the country. He was also a master of the shield, which was a rare sight in this modern age.

"There," Frigid pointed out as a car emerged from an underground tunnel. "That's the one."

"Follow my lead." Frenzy pulled up his hood and leapt off the roof they had camped on and flipped himself so that his back landed on the tent below before bouncing off to a fancy restaurant, which was finishing up for the night.

Frigid followed, landing on the tent before touching the ground. Frenzy had already gone ahead, chasing after the car like some mad drunk. Suddenly, the car sped up, blowing a whole cloud of exhaust in Frenzy's face before heading down the road.

"That didn't seem like a good idea," Frigid said as he caught up to the coughing Assassin. "We should have followed them by the roofs."

"Look, Frigid," Frenzy dusted off his sleeveless attire. "Who's the better Assassin? You or me?"

The fiery haired Assassin didn't give Frigid time to answer, quickly following the car's trail using his eagle sense.

After Dust Fencer had died, Frigid found that he was able to track the movement of his targets with his eagle vision. Even in death, Dust watched over him. Frigid silently thanked the man for everything he had done before going after his partner.

The red trail led them through the quiet streets of Fillydelphia, finally bringing them to a stop outside a large, rectangular warehouse. Green paint sloppily coated the walls of the building and the few windows it had were all shattered.

"Looks abandoned," Frigid observed, stopping outside the vast shutter.

"That's what they want you to think," Frenzy told him, raising a hand in gesture. "The shutter's too heavy for us to lift. There must be another way in. A door."

Frigid headed around the side, looking for a smaller entrance, meant for workers when they came without vehicles. Around the left, Frigid found another shutter with a door next to it.

"Perfect. Frenzy, I got a door."

Fire Frenzy pushed past the younger Assassin and whipped out his lockpicks. In less than a minute, he managed to get the door open, slowly pushing it in while standing at the side, just in case the Templars were ready for them.

True enough, bullets whizzed past has arm, forcing him to withdraw it behind the wall where the rest of his body hid. Frigid ran up the wall before grabbing on to the roof and hauling himself up.

Let's see if there's another way in.

The roof was lightly paneled, meaning anything heavy could break a hole in the roof easily. Frigid jumped up and down, hearing the panels underneath his feet creaking and groaning from his continuous pressure. The roof began denting before finally breaking. Frigid didn't think too far ahead, falling down with the rest of the broken panels.

A Templar guard looked up just as Frigid landed on him, crumpling the man to his knees. Frigid quickly recovered from the shock and stabbed the guard in the neck before heading away from the open area.

The warehouse barely had any goods inside it. A few cars lined one side of the walls while the rest of the area held a few tables, some with computers and papers, others with weapons.

The remaining guards turned their guns to the gray haired Assassin just as he completely vaulted over a table and pushed it over, using it as cover. The sound of the gunfire was deafening in the hollow warehouse, almost forcing Frigid's hands to his ears. Then it stopped for a few seconds as screams replaced them. Frigid looked up over his cover to see Fire Frenzy dealing out some serious punishment to the Templar guards. He swung his sword at one, catching him in his abdomen while he kicked out with a leg, knocking another back. With a spin, he yanked the sword out of the first guard and cut another, a splash of red appearing across the guard's chest as the sword passed him.

Frigid decided to join in, running full speed at a Templar before launching both feet towards him, both shoe blades extended. Both blades punched right into the guard's chest and knocked him down with Frigid quickly springing himself back up as more guards attempted to shoot him. He grabbed the first guard's pistol and swung it to another, watching as the bullet exited the gun and entered a guard's chest.

Extending both hidden blades, Frigid spun to the side and stabbed four guards in their throats before flipping a fifth guard upwards after hooking his leg with the trident extension. The guard flipped up and fell back down head first, landing in a weird angle, his neck probably broken.

Frigid turned back and noticed Frenzy had already taken care of the remaining guards, leaving one cowering Templar, his back against a table leg.

"Please, go away!" Iron Coat threw a hand up in front of him. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

That sentence had awoken the anger inside Frenzy as he stomped towards the Templar, his sword tip pointed at him. "Nothing wrong? You're a Templar! Being alive does me wrong!"

"Frenzy, stop," Frigid stepped closer. "We need to get information from him first."

The Templar suddenly whipped out a large circular object from under the table and swung it at Frenzy's legs, toppling the Assassin.

"You really think I fear you?" Iron Coat laughed as he pulled the shield fully on his arm before drawing a short sword from inside it. "I've killed plenty of you Assassins in my prime."

Fire Frenzy leapt up and held his sword in an attacking stance. "Pathetic. A shield is outdated."

The Templar smirked, his face turning into something evil. "Just watch."

Fire Frenzy swung his blade at Iron Coat, but the Templar blocked with his shield before stabbing his sword forward. Frenzy deflected it and swung again, only to watch his blade get blocked again.

Frigid watched them trade blows for a few more seconds before joining in, lunging both arms at the shield expert. The Templar countered Frenzy with his sword while turning to block Frigid’s hidden blades. Iron Coat tilted the shield, making Frigid slide past him as the blades connected. Frigid was about to recover when the Templar side bashed him with his shield, sending Frigid tumbling to the ground.

“Weak!” Iron Coat taunted as he clashed blades with Frenzy. “You say I’m pathetic? You say my shield style is pathetic? Who’re the pathetic ones now?”

Frigid flipped himself back up and charged the Templar again, trying to get a hit in from behind. Iron Coat deflected a blade and spun his sword around Frigid's arm, hitting him in the chin with the hilt of his sword as he turned back to deflect Frenzy's blade.

Frigid spat blood out of his mouth and pulled out two throwing knives. He threw both of them at Iron Coat, forcing him to bring up his shield, while also fending off Frenzy with his other hand. Frigid ran behind his daggers, like he was trying to catch them. When he got close enough, he slid under Iron Coat's legs and slashed at both of them with his hidden blades, cutting through cloth and tendons as he got past the man.

"Gaaah!" Iron Coat yelled in pain as he fell, dropping his sword on the ground beside him. Frigid quickly moved over to kick it away.

Frenzy walked over and put a foot on his shield arm, preventing the Templar from getting up. He extended his hidden blade and raised his arm, but before he could land the killing blow, Frigid had put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"No, Frenzy. Not yet," the younger Assassin told him. "I need to know what he knows."

"You should just kill me now," Iron Coat spat at the Assassins. "Cause I'll never talk. You're just giving me more time to plan my escape!"

Frenzy bent down and threw a right hook at the man's jaw. "You keep thinking like that. We'll see what you say in a few minutes."

The Templar grabbed for his mouth, but said nothing. Frigid knelt down and grabbed Iron Coat by the coat and pulled him up. "Where is Mirror Match? Tell me where to find her!"

"Mirror Match? The new girl?" Iron Coat looked at the Assassin with surprised eyes before releasing a bellow of laughter. "Why do you search for her? She's the hardest Templar to find. I can assure you that."

Frigid snarled and jammed a hidden blade into the man's lower arm. Iron Coat held back his scream, irritating Frigid more. He wanted the Templar to feel the pain. The Assassin pulled out the blade and stuck it in again, a little higher from the first wound. Then again and again, until the Templar's mouth finally opened with a shout of agony.

"Why are you doing this?" he said in between two shouts. "I don't know where she is! She's not in Fillydelphia! That much I know! Just stop!"

Frigid Night stared into the man's eyes, trying to catch anymore information he could be hiding. "How about the machine? The Eye as you call it. Where is that?"

"Not here," Iron Coat said, trying to squirm his way out, but failed.

"Where!" Frigid barked and drove his blade back into the man's arm.

"Aah! I-it's in Manehattan!"

"Which part of Manehattan?" Frigid didn't like having to ask so many times. He turned his blade, forcing out more of Iron Coat's voice.

"I don't know!" The Templar clenched his teeth and shut his eyes. "I'm not as high-ranking as I'd like to be! That's everything I know!"

Frigid looked at him. The man looked like he didn't deserve anymore. Frigid would have normally let him go, but that was long ago. The new Frigid didn't feel sympathy for Templars. Just hate.

"All yours, Frenzy," Frigid said as he stood back up.

Fire Frenzy unsheathed his hidden blade and finished the job as Frigid moved to the tables to search for more data. Frigid turned on one of the computers as Frenzy had a chat with the dying man. If the computers held more data, perhaps he could narrow down the machine's location, and with that, maybe Mirror Match's too.

Comments

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

Is Frigid sure he wants to find Mirror Match that badly? Judging by her performance in the Lost Connection, she already outclasses him in terms of skill, not to mention the centuries of experience she has over him. If it comes down to a fight, my money's on her.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

8740577
Same.

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

8740851
And the power she showed in The Lost Connection was when she was severely weakened from the events of Leap of Faith. Imagine what she could do at full strength.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

8742063
Indeed. Perhaps Rose Petal answered that already.

[MoonlightRift]

Cruel.