A City's Understanding

My eyes opened to see nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had to make sure that my words were indeed open. When I blinked, I could see no difference in my vision. I was in a pitch-black room. In some sense of curiosity, I started to feel around me with my arms. The walls felt wooden, the floor was too, and there was someone in here with me.

"Yah!" I gasped.

"Rarity, it's me!"

"Oh...Dr. Turner...Uh...Where are we?"

He did not answer right away. I could faintly hear a sigh emit from his lips. There was also a dry breathing from my right. I could only assume it was Sunny, who sounded like she was sleeping. I had the urge to poke her, like one does with a stick to make sure something's alive, but I restrained myself.

The place was not silent. one could easily tell that we were not alone. Beyond the walls were sounds of chatter, walking, and even barking. Angry shouts and the stomping of feet was common. I could not make out what the people were saying because their words were masked by the heavy walls. However, the voices approached the door and their words became clear.

"You know the deal, Garner!" An accented voice yelled.

"Yes. Sir Tirek can't have everything, you know. The Unionists need warriors on our side."

"That's what the Nationalists are for. Now let me in there."

"Please don't!"

"Out of my way."

The door suddenly flew open, letting in a stream of light that blinded me. I turned my face to see Turner covering his eyes like me. Sunny groaned and cursed quietly. As my eyes adjusted, I could make out a thin figure in the doorway. The figure took some steps forward, making silent footsteps.

"Rarity. Dr. Turner. Sarah. Never thought I would see your faces again."

I knew the voice. It was Octavia. The former Assassin placed a confident hand on her hip while she chuckled rudely at us. I could not see her face or really any part of her. She was a silhouette against the light from the outside. I felt the mocking smile though, and the cold dark eyes I remembered her by.

"Octavia! What is the meaning of this?" Turner demanded.

"Oh, nothing, Doc. I was just in the area and heard of Garner's newly acquired Unionists. She made the mistake of saying they were Assassins. Lord Tirek wanted me to investigate."

"Lord?" You can't be serious." Sunny groaned.

"Shut your trap!" Octavia hissed, "No one insults him. Especially in front of me."

"Octavia, we are no threat to you. We are out here to search for Twilight. I'm sure you remember her." I explained.

"Twilight? I do remember her. You know why? Because I've been talking with her the past week. I knew the Templar would come searching. I just thought they would send out a better team." Octavia huffed.

"Octavia! Listen to us." Turner shouted, "We are Assassins. We should be working together. Come back to the Brotherhood."

Octavia stormed over to him and kicked him across the face. He fell to the floor with a grunt of pain. I could now see Octavia's face. It was tight with shear anger as she kicked him several more times. I wanted to get up and protect him, but my head hurt far too much to direct myself.

"The Brotherhood? The Brotherhood?" Octavia spat, "They have done nothing but torment me! You have betrayed the Capital for your own greedy goals. You have forsaken me and my friend! I'll never return to you bastards!"

"Octavia! Cease!" Garner ordered from the doorway. "You know Sir Tirek would not be pleased with your behaviour."

"Quiet!" Octavia screamed, shutting up the Equalist leader immediately.

Garner cursed under her breath and turned away. Octavia was satisfied with this and returned her hateful gaze upon all three of us. Her pink eyes glowed with an evident wrath. Her eyes soon softened to almost sadness and she took a step away from Turner.

"You people think that this city has hope with you in charge. Templar, Assassins, all of them fools. The Templar started this mess. The Assassins continue the mess. It is people like Lord Tirek, like me, and like Scratch that try to end the chaos. I'm sickened by it. The Brotherhood should just leave. I know they are good at that anyway."

"Octavia...Listen." Turner moaned. "You're just upset. That's all."

"I've been upset ever since they took my friend's body." Octavia hissed back. "Scratch? Would you kindly come in here?"

"Oh no..." Sunny gasped.

The sounds of metal clanged about. It was an uneven and unsettling gait that approached the dark room. Garner squeaked in terror and quickly moved out of the way of the approaching being. Sunny gulped and Turner sighed longingly. I stared uneasily at the opened door where the light poured through.

The light was broken by a long spear-like finger. Two other crooked digits followed. Next was a holey glove with charred skin poking through the many openings. After that was the sleeve of a blue military uniform, its cuff-links were missing and the gold lacing was almost completely undone, like one tried to undo it by habit. A leather boot appeared next, followed quickly by a patched knee.

The demonic breathing of the creature could be heard. I thought the creature would fall over at any moment from such breathing. After the bent elbow appeared, the hood could be seen. It appeared more like a potato sack that was sewn haphazardly onto the uniform. Glowing red eyes were in the shadow of the hood and a loose metallic jaw hung askew. The uniform was unbuttoned and a red sash was wrapped around the subject's chest. That sash was by far the most colorful spot on the creature. It blocked the light as it entered. The face was so deep in the darkness of the hood that I could only see the bottom jaw. Though just that showed me that its face was covered in metal plates.

"This is Scratch." Octavia gestured at it. "He is happy to see you. Isn't that right?"

"Gah...." Was the ghostly reply.

I could now see that Scratch's hands had knives sticking out of every finger. It was some attempt to make claws, I presumed. The hidden blades were on top of his wrists and their blades were much longer and thicker than mine. The creature cocked its large head at me curiously. I could faintly see some bluish hair escape the sack hood.

"Do you know why he looks like this?" Octavia asked. "Do you?"

"He was in an accident in a factory." I told her.

"Exactly. The Royals don't care about those who actually work. Young, old, doesn't matter. Scratch was just a kid when his parents died in the factory accident. He was there too, working the machinery. Getting into places where the adults couldn't. So this explosion happened, killed plenty of innocent people. He survived, but the fire took his face, including his cheeks, nose, lips, eyelids, all his skin, and severely damaging his voice box. Not to mention he lost his right arm and the right side of his rib cage. Oh and his right foot. Never heard of such an accident, did you Rarity? Of course not! The Royals never showed up! The government did not care at all and let the place burn to the ground and all the living who worked there lost their jobs! To make it worse, the government did nothing to help the wounded or dying because they thought it was the workers' fault it all happened in the first place!"

"If he is so poor and lost so much, how is he standing before us?" I asked and gestured at the freakish individual.

"Because of me." Octavia replied. "I took care of him. I made a metal mask to keep some moisture in his face. It kept falling off, so we decided to fasten it to his face. That's why there are wires all over his skeletal mask. Some even latch onto his actual skull. It was the only way to get the mask close enough to keep water in his eyes as he cannot blink anymore. We joined the Brotherhood to fight back against such injustice, they returned the favor by giving Scratch a metal arm and lower leg. We also replaced his collapsed lung with a fake one. Breathing has never been normal since. Our devotion was ill-treated though, as the Brotherhood abandoned us."

"That's tragic and all, but we had nothing to do with it, Octy! You don't need to treat us like we caused all of this." Sunny reasoned.

"That's where you are wrong." She replied. "You uphold the name of a Brotherhood that is disloyal and hypocritical and Rarity sits here. She proudly calls herself Templar. She deserves to die just for that. Both the Brotherhood and the Templar play their roles in the destruction of the Capital. You have caused all of this!"

"Now....Now it's time to show you what you have caused. Take them away." Octavia gestured at Scratch.

Scratch uttered some demonic growl in affirmation. Lady Garner looked at Octavia incredulously. With a quick action of her arm, she grabbed the former Assassin's arm in protest.

"Octavia! You can't take them away. They're my prison-"

Octavia backhanded Lady Garner across the face, knocking the woman to the ground. Scratch approached me, his eyes reflecting the small light with a red glow. His rather thin paw took hold of me and lifted me up. Since he picked me up with his right arm, it was the mechanical one and I could tell from the strong grip alone. He swung me over onto his shoulder like I was nothing and returned his attention to his insane friend.

"Take her to the east exit. Templars and Assassins should always be separated." Octavia ordered nicely.

In a desperate attempt to escape, I began to smack his back with my fists, but after the first strike, my hand was numb from hitting the metal that was under his uniform. He took a step over Garner and exited the room. For the first time, my eyes took in all the light from the other room.

"Rarity no!" Turner yelled.

Octavia stood between him and I, so I could not see his face, but the desperation in his voice was so sincere, it broke my heart slightly. Scratch did not stop as he walked passed the Unionists that glared at both of us with hatred. I could not blame them since Octavia struck their leader. However, I was surprised they took no action to stop the former Assassins. They obviously hated them, but could make no move on them. Was it fear? Was it respect? I did not know.

Isaac Benjamin nodded at me when I passed him. He knew something I did not. His face was stoic and not knotted up like his former followers. I actually thought a smirk formed on his thin and worn out lips. His blue eyes displayed a proud confidence that he did not have last night.

"Let me go you fiend!" I kneed the brute.

Scratch did not even grunt and carried me on. I started to notice that not all of the men and women there were Unionists. Some had red bands on their arms and heads, representing the Nationalist party. These particular subjects were much more filthy and roguish than the Unionists. Most of them had pistols and rifles as well. I now knew why the Unionists did not attack. They were outnumbered in their own headquarters.

Scratch kicked open the small door and carried me out. To my surprise, there was a two-horse carriage waiting for us. I was going to be taken somewhere. Panic gripped me suddenly. I already preferred being in Unionist custody than whatever custody I was about to go in. I began to struggle even more as we came closer to this mysterious carriage.

"Nyth...Gain!" Scratch uttered.

I did not know what the brute was saying. He repeated it again like he was calling out to someone. I took hold of his head and began to whirl it about. A ghostly growl came from the metal mask. In a fit of rage, he threw me down to the cobblestone. My eyes faded slightly as the morning sky was all I saw.

The brute jumped on me, taking my throat in his mechanical hand. I could see his yellowish teeth behind the gaps of the ill-constructed mask. Saliva flowed uncontrolled out of his mouth like he was an animal. The artificial lenses that appeared red were actually a light purple, not moving and thick.

"Get off me!" I screamed.

"Si ense! Din ten ar!" He screamed back.

He slammed me into the ground to silence me. The back of my head was no doubt bleeding from this. Though it was relieving to know he would not kill me yet. I could stars from the strike and I was disoriented. He then lifted his other hand up to strike me. I braced for the pain. Suddenly, a gun rang through the alleyway. I saw flesh and metal spring out from Scratch's lifted shoulder. The brute screamed horridly.

I took the moment to scramble away from the rogue. My heart raced and all the paths before me blurred into one. To put it plainly: I ran. I did not care who my savior was. I did not care if Scratch was in pursuit or not. I just wanted to escape. I just wanted to survive another day. As my heart pumped so loud and hard that it could push through my chest, my legs ran harder and faster than any day of my life prior.

I did not know where I was going. Everything was such a bloody blur. My ears ceased to pick up sound and the wretched scream from that cyborg Assassins rang in my ears time and time again. I only remembered turning once or twice, but I believe I went in a straight line mostly. One time I glanced over my shoulder, and all I saw was empty alleys.

The Capital seemed dead that morning, that or I was in a dead section. My arms pulsed with the adrenaline that flowed through my person. My eyes darted everywhere, taking in nothing that I saw. I had remembered who I was leaving at the Unionist HQ. I could only hope that Turner and Sunny would be alright, though I doubted it.

My eyes widened as a man stepped in front of me. I tried to slow down, but it was not enough as I ran right into him. Like a brick wall, he stopped me without budging. My head spun as I recovered from the impact. My eyes focused slowly on his smiling countenance. I gasped audibly as I recognised Isaac Benjamin.

"You do have your father's eyes." He chuckled.