A Long Way to Fall

by Cinders of War

Chapter 6: A Heist Not Attempted Before

“Are you ready for this next part, princess?” Morning Blade smiled, one hand tapped away at her book.

“You seem excited.” Twilight Sparkle noticed. “What’s up next?”

“Just something that will seem really out of place,” Morning said, looking back at her book. “This next part has nothing to do with Assassin work, really. Honestly, I don’t quite know why Frigid had gone through the mission like that, but I guess it still worked out in the end.”

“Sounds like we’ve got a good story ahead,” Twilight chuckled. “I’m ready when you are, Morning Blade.”

"Alright." Morning Blade flipped her book page. "Just remember, this one's gonna be a little weird once we start."

"Hey, you don't see weird until you've met Pinkie Pie."

---

---

Frigid Night and Mirror Match had gone down to Red Card to get a contract. The old Assassin blabbered on for a while, but eventually found a suitable one for them.

“Silverblaze,” he began, giving Frigid the piece of paper. “Runs the Silver Smile Casino all the way in Las Pegasus. Big, fancy place where lots of people go at all times of the day to waste their money. What we know is that most of the machines there are bugged. They make you lose when you think you’ve got it. All that money goes to the Templars.”

“Sounds like they get a lot of money there,” Frigid speculated, reading the rest of the information on the paper. “So we just walk in there, kill Silverblaze, then leave?”

Red Card stared knives at Frigid Night. “Not all contracts are assassinations, Frigid. If you kill him, all the Templars need to do is find a replacement for him. What you need to do is disrupt the casino business so bad that they’ll have to close down. Talk to Pierce Network. He’ll be helping you on this one.”

Frigid tried to not sound too disappointed. “Really? That… sounds great. Can’t wait to start.”

“Yeah,” Mirror Match added. “It should be exciting… working with a veteran Assassin.”

“Perfect,” said the old Assassin. “He’s right behind you.”

Frigid Night and Mirror Match turned to see the seasoned hacker behind them, using his phone as usual.

“So you two will be helping me take down the Silver Smile Casino, huh? Good. That Casino has been in business for the Templars for far too long. They cheat and steal from all the people there, but make it look like the gamblers were just unlucky. Well, it’s about time someone put a stop to that casino for good.”

“Exactly what we thought, Pierce,” Mirror Match said, trying to have a little more excitement in her voice. “We should get to work as fast as we can so that… we can… put a stop to these Templars quickly.”

“Right,” Pierce nodded. “I have a plan, but I will need you two to go in yourselves. “I’ll provide information for you. And I have a few items I need you two to pick up on our way to Las Pegasus. These Templars are not going to know who hit them.”

---

Pierce Network drove the little van as Frigid Night and Mirror Match sat in the bag with all the equipment. Even though they had seatbelts on, Frigid and Mirror didn’t feel safe as Pierce Network sped down the busy streets towards Las Pegasus. He almost hit other cars a few times, but somehow managed to barely swerve out of the way at the last second.

“People these days,” Pierce said from the front. “Always think they own the road. Driving slowly, illegally stopping, dropping off people… they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Mirror Match turned to Frigid and whispered to him. “Is this safe? Letting him drive? I keep feeling that we’re not going to make it to Las Pegasus.”

Frigid shrugged, but his hands were gripping tightly to the seat under him. “I’m not too sure, but I am hoping we make it there unharmed.”

“And…” Mirror continued. “Did we have to wear these? I mean, I am a girl after all.”

Frigid looked down to his suit. Pierce Network suggested they wear the two suits he picked out. The suit consisted of a black jacket, a white shirt, black pants, and a gray tie.

“Can’t have you looking like Assassins here,” he had said. “These suits will make you look like any other gambler there. Trust me, you'll blend right in.”

Frigid didn’t mind, but the suit was a little itchy. Mirror Match didn’t like the suit at all.

“After this mission,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll be putting on another suit for a while.”

Frigid Night looked back in front. They were stopped by a few red lights, but with a few taps on his phone, Pierce somehow turned them green, allowing them to keep going. After several turns and close collisions, they had arrived in Las Pegasus.

“Ah, Las Pegasus,” Mirror Match said as she looked at the signboard on the way in. “Home to all kinds of thieves.”

“Yes,” Pierce said from the front. “We’re here to steal from the greatest ones. The Templars. All these years, hiding in plain sight, funneling money away from all kinds of people. This hit is going to knock them over on the side.”

Pierce continued down the busy roads, eventually driving past the Silver Smile Casino. It was a big, white building with lots of colourful lights advertising itself. Taxis gathered at the entrance, dropping off people ready to win some money.

“There it is,” he told the young assassins. “The Silver Smile. We’re taking this place down. Let’s see the Templars recover from this after we’re done.”

He parked in nearby alley, where most people wouldn’t turn to look.

He turned back to Frigid and Mirror. “This is where you get off. I need you to infiltrate the place first. I’ll let you know what to do when you get in.”

“Got it,” Frigid acknowledged. “Ready Mirror?”

She smiled, excited for the mission. “Ready, partner. Let’s go.”

Frigid opened the door and leapt out. After Mirror Match joined him, they proceeded out of the alley and towards the casino. Entering, they saw the hugeness of the place from inside. There were all kinds of machines scattered all across the hall of the casino and a few cars for display, revolving on raised platforms.

“Wow!” Mirror Match said in awe. “The Templars sure are doing well! Why don’t we have money like this?”

“Well…” Frigid thought of something to say. “I guess we don’t openly do things like this?”

She looked around at all the machines and people as they continued through.

“If we had stuff like this, imagine all the things we could do!”

Frigid laughed. “Don’t let it get to your head, Mirror. There are more important things than wealth.”

“I guess so,” Mirror nodded. “Alright. Let’s take this place down. What’s next?”

Pierce Network’s voice came on in their earpieces. “Good you’re in. Now, what I need you to do is to thrash the place. These Templars think they can earn all this money from these sad people. Well, they’re going to be in for a big surprise when we shut this place down. Mask on whenever you’re ready. I’ll monitor you two from the cameras.”

Frigid looked to Mirror and the two nodded. They reached into their jackets and pulled out special hockey masks, made by Pierce himself that made facial recognition useless against them.

“Cause a scene, and start wrecking the place,” Pierce said. “But make sure you behave like common robbers.”

They put on the masks and pulled out pistols that Pierce had gotten for them. Raising a gun into the air, Frigid shot off a round. In the noisy space of the casino, not a lot of people heard the shot, but those who did quickly turned to the source and widened their eyes.

“This is a robbery!” Mirror Match shouted at the nearest gamblers, waving her gun in their direction. “Everyone get down and you won’t be harmed!”

One man tried to be smart, but Frigid pushed him back down and pointed his pistol in the man’s face.

“Stay down! Don’t try to be funny. We don’t want to have to harm you.”

One guard had heard the commotion and walked towards them, drawing his pistol.

“Freeze!” he shouted at the two Assassins. “Put the guns down, and put your hands up!”

Frigid looked at the man for a bit. The guard wasn’t going to faze. Frigid didn’t want to kill him, but when he saw the symbol of the Templar cross on his belt, he lifted his pistol and shot immediately, taking the guard by surprise. The guard fell back and stopped moving.

“You shot him, Frigid?” Mirror asked softly. “We aren’t supposed to kill innocent people, right?”

“He was a Templar,” Frigid replied. “They like to leave their symbol open.”

The civilians saw the dead guard and got down immediately. With the crowd around them settled for now, Frigid Night and Mirror Match grabbed some chairs and started smashing them into the slot machines around them. Electric and money started flying out, alerting others around them and screams from the civilians near them. Some of them crawled and grabbed what money they could. Frigid didn’t mind. As long as the Templars didn’t get the money, they were good to go.

“Good work,” Pierce told them. “Keep breaking everything you see, and we’re good to go. Those Templars are going to wish they never opened this casino.”

Frigid smashed the first two machines he had attacked, and didn’t stop until the chair he held broke to bits. He walked over to the next few machines, picking up another chair, when a movement from a window above caught his eye. A man with grey hair and white skin stood in a room above, looking down at them as they destroyed his business.

“Silverblaze,” Frigid spat. Mirror turned to look. “There he is.”

“Should we go teach him a lesson?” Mirror Match asked as she bashed another slot machine down.

“No,” Pierce Network answered. “No need for that. All you need to do is take care of the place. I’ll lock the room Silverblaze is in until you get out.”

Silverblaze pulled out a phone and put it to his head.

“He’s calling for backup,” Mirror speculated. “We should work faster.”

Frigid nodded and picked up a second chair.

Why use one when I have two hands?

He ran along a row of machines and bashed each one with the chairs he held.

“Frigid,” Mirror called. “I have an idea.”

He turned to her to see her holding a few bottles of alcohol, with a burning cloth stuck into the mouths of each one.

“Go for it,” he smiled. “That’ll speed things-”

Gunshots rang out, forcing him to duck instinctively. He turned to the source. Two more guards ran towards them, pistols raised. One of them shot at Frigid’s location, but the Assassin quickly got behind one of the slot machines as the guard’s gun followed him. Sparks flew as the bullets pelted the machine.

He turned back to Mirror Match and nodded. He returned the nod and threw the Molotov high above her head and watched as it landed around more machines near the display cars.

She quickly joined Frigid Night behind the machines as the fire spread, engulfing several machines as the fire made its way towards the cars.

“Do they put gas in the cars?” Mirror Match asked as she looked beyond the machines.

“Good question…” he replied. “We should leave as fast as possible, just in case.”

“Not yet,” Pierce said on their earpieces. “You’ve got one more job to accomplish. Silverblaze keeps the money for the Templars in a vault on the second floor. I need you to get in there and either take the money, or burn it. Can’t have the Templars getting all that money.”

“Got it,” Mirror Match acknowledged.

“Go,” Frigid Night told her. “I’ll keep the guards busy.”

She nodded and dashed off towards the stairs as Frigid got up and shot a few rounds towards the guards. He hit one of them in the arm, but went back behind the machine after running out of bullets.

“Mirror,” he asked through the earpiece. “You make it up?”

“Yeah. I’m at the vault. Looks like a tough nut to crack.”

“I’ve hidden explosives in one of the potted plants to your left,” Pierce voiced. “Use them to breach the vault.”

“When did you put those there?” Frigid asked. “I thought we just got here.”

“Oh, I had plenty of time when the two of you strolled around. We are Assassins. We’re meant to get in and out unseen. I’ve spent a good quarter of my life taking down these Templars. I do what I can do damage what resources they have. They think they can just waltz in and take what they want. Ha.”

“Wow,” was all Frigid could say.

“Found them!” Mirror shouted.

Frigid returned his attention to the guards. He was out of bullets, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have anything else he could use. He snuck around the row of machines, getting around to the other side as the guards arrived at his previous position. The uninjured one aimed his gun past the machine, but Frigid was no longer there. Running, he got to the guard he had shot and kicked him in the head. The guard went down fast, while the second one turned around.

The guard shot off a round at him at point blank. If it weren’t for the mask, he might have been dead, but the bullet pinged off the mask as he attacked the guard, knocking him on the sides of his head, stunning him, and stealing his pistol. With a shot to the chest, the guard went down.

“All clear down here, Mirror,” Frigid said as he checked the bullets in the gun. Five more shots. “How’re things with you?”

“I started planting the explosives, but a guard showed up. I had to show him a thing or two.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. The guard isn’t, though.”

“Alright,” Frigid acknowledged. “I’m coming up. See you there.”

With things settled here, Frigid high tailed it up the stairs, just as the first car exploded in a fiery storm.

“Woah...” was all he said as he watched the fire from the staircase.

Returning to his senses, he continued his climb up the staircase. He turned the corner, only to run into a guard carrying a baton. The guard swung it at his face, but Frigid Night dodged it and gave the guard a punch to the gut. The guard doubled over, giving Frigid the chance to elbow him in the back of the neck. The guard went down as Frigid continued.

Turning a few more corners, Frigid found Mirror Match and the vault. It was a huge black, metal door with a huge wheel in the middle, and a retina scanner on the left of it.

“Mirror Match,” Frigid called, joining her by the vault door. “How’s the explosives going?”

“Almost done,” she told him as she placed another one. “Just one more.”

She handed Frigid Night the last of the explosives as she planted hers. Frigid put it near the top. They got a safe distance away as Pierce Network blew the explosives, igniting the air around them with a loud explosion, accompanied by another car exploding down in the main hall.

“Good job,” Pierce told them. “Now, either take the money, or burn it. These Templars are not getting this money today. Oh… and by the way… you have police heading to your location.”

“Time for us to go then,” Frigid said as he packed the money into the foldable bags they brought. “How much time do we have?”

“About thirty more seconds. They just passed my location.”

“They’re that close?” Mirror said, packing the money faster. “We should hurry.”

Frigid looked out to the entrance. They had a way to travel to get out. “We have to burn the money.”

“Do we have to burn it all?” Mirror asked, a smile on her face.

“Well, we do already have a bit for ourselves, right?” said Frigid.

“Well said, Frigid.”

They took what they could run with, and stuffed them in the bags. Slinging the bags on their shoulders, Mirror took out the lighter she stole off one of the gamblers and threw it at the pile of money. The paper went up in flames, eventually engulfing the entire stack. Frigid and Mirror quickly got out of the vault to avoid the smoke and made a run for the entrance.

The explosions from the display cars had torn a chunk of the platform off, leaving a gaping hole in one of the areas. Most of the slot machines now lay in ruins, or pieces from Frigid and Mirror’s beating, and the unexpected explosions.

“Cops are here,” Frigid told his partner as the first signs of red and blue appeared near the entrance. “We’re going to have to curve around them.”

“I’ve opened a side door for you,” Pierce Network told them. “Get to the reception. The door is in a room behind the desk.”

Frigid and Mirror turned from the main entrance as the first officers got out of their cars.

“Freeze!” they heard one of the cops say, but they didn’t slow down, unwilling to compromise the Brotherhood.

Frigid was the first to leap over the desk, straight for the door. Mirror Match followed behind as he opened the door to the back room. They saw the door Pierce had unlocked and headed for it. Exiting the flaming building, they returned to Pierce’s van.

“Phew…” Frigid Night breathed as he got into his seat.

“That was… exciting,” Mirror Match said, sitting next to him. “We should do this again.”

“Fun’s over,” Pierce called from the front. “Time to go.”

He started the van, driving out of the alley without lights. After turning, he stepped down on the accelerator, taking the van out of the area.

“Anyone see us?” Frigid asked as he turned around to look out the back window.

Two cars drove behind them, their red and blue lights flaring, along with their sirens.

“Great,” Pierce muttered, stepping harder on the accelerator, bringing them further from the police cars. “They probably think it was suspicious. A black van driving out from a dark alley. People do it all the time, but these cops want to follow us? I’ll give them something to follow.”

Pierce raced down the streets with the two cars in pursuit. Arriving at a junction, Pierce whipped out his phone and began tapping some buttons.

“Pierce!” Mirror shouted, aghast. “You’re not supposed to use your phone while driving! You’ve got to keep your eyes on the road!”

“I do it all the time,” he assured, driving past the junction. “I just need a little distraction.”

Something on the screen turned green as all the other traffic lights at the junction did the same. The cars from the four different directions drove forward as their van continued along the road. The police cars stopped as the cars in front crashed into each other. Some drivers got out and began waving their fists at each other.

Frigid leaned back against his seat and blew out some air. “That was close.”

“Yeah,” Mirror Match agreed. “I thought we were going to crash!”

“I can multi-task,” Pierce reminded her. “I can handle the road and my phone perfectly.”

They sped back towards the border of Las Pegasus as the sirens grew softer behind them. The police were going to have a great time cleaning up the mess at the casino, but so were the Templars.

Comments

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

So this is the debut of Pierce Network. I wonder what happened between now and The Lost Connection? Obviously he left, but for what reasons? I have a feeling Mirror Match has something to do with it.

Also, is Pierce Network based on Aiden Pearce from Watch Dogs?

[Sonata Eternal]

This was in interesting chapter. Not much assassinating, but they got to destroy a place!
7895889 and right? He is based off Watch Dogs.

[MoonlightRift]

“Exactly what we thought, Pierce,” Mirror Match said, trying to have a little more excitement in her voice. “We should get to work as fast as we can so that… we can… put a stop to these Templars quickly.”

🤨

Pierce is such a chad though, beyond the boomer attitude.