The Order of the Black Knights

by Blake Skies

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine [edit]

Chapter One

Chapter One

Downtown Manhattan, New York City

New York, USA

October 30th, 2040, 10:25PM

Blake Bradley transmitting

Target: Union Official Killika

Manhattan, New York, part of the City that never sleeps. Honestly this forest of steel buildings is quite a sight to behold, especially at night. With all the buildings, street lamps, and car lights burning brightly, this city glowed in the overcast night sky. From a distance, I’m sure it’s a moving sight of Human grit and ingenuity. But when you’re in the middle of Downtown Manhattan standing upon a flag pole trying to focus your mind, it’s a totally different feeling.

All the car horns, asshole screaming at other assholes and a few police cars trying to catch a fleeing drug dealer creates quite a ruckus. All the while none of them noticing a tall man of six feet five inches wearing a black hoodie with dark blue jeans and reebok sneakers magically balancing him atop a flag pole attached to a building whose name and address I really have forgotten. That man is me, Andrew James Pinto, but my online/code name is Blake Bradley.

Yes I am a gamer, and yes I am a member of the Emersion Cap Gaming Community or ECGC. For any of you who don’t know what Emersion Caps are, well they are goggles that allow gamers to enter a virtual reality while sleeping. Now why this important? Well about ten years ago The Red Forces, the second largest and the strongest guild in the ECGC; found a way to bring ships, NPC’s, equipment, and others from the virtual world into the real world. They only did it to help the UN Combat nations such as Iran, Jordan, and Syria during the Second Arab Spring back in 2022.

However five years ago, another guild used it for far darker purpose. The Union, the ninth largest guild, took on a new leader who goes by the name of Draco. Draco has dreams of making the Union the largest and strongest guild in existence, and he was going to achieve this by any means necessary. Starting in 2029, they’ve been in constant war with The Red Forces and the International Gaming Community, the largest guild, to break them of the one and two spot on the list.

However each conflict they fought ended in disaster for the Union. Finally at the outbreak of the Second Ultimate War in 2035, The Union did the unthinkable and invaded Real Earth. Despite quick reactions by the nations of the world, The Union managed to dig its heels in within most of Europe, all of Mexico, and parts of Middle America. Better yet, their influence stretches out to all corners of the world trying to pump more power into the Union.

With the Red Forces and the IGC unable to fight the Union full time on Earth, gamer forces on Earth were drew up. Why you ask, simple answer; only way to beat computer gamers is to use computer gamers. So a device called the Reflex was built, to inject Gamers with nanites that boosted a Gamers human physiology to that of his AI.

Surprisingly it’s worked without a casualty yet.

The Real World ground troops that would combat Real Life Union forces formed a coalition called Splitter Cell. They combat The Union on the battlefield par for par, but to win war these days there must be a special operations and assassins to do the dark work. That’s where we come in and that’s why I’m standing on a flag pole roughly forty five feet into the air.

In the game called “Lineage” there exists a force of undercover Assassin’s known as The Order of The Black Knights. We originally wanted Assassin’s Creed but Ubisoft got in the way of that one. We work in the darkness knocking out Union officers and Generals in the hope of finally bringing down the Union. I joined for that very reason, I felt it was my obligation to destroy the Union for having the Gaul to invade Earth and threaten so many innocent lives.

Black Knights are all trained assassins with extreme Parkour discipline, hand to hand combat, and weapons use. I myself am a master field agent and swordsmen. We’re also well-equipped but I’ll get to that when time comes.

My target tonight was Commander Killika, who was going out for a stroll at Battery Park which was a good seven blocks south of my position. Sitting on the flag pole, I was practicing an old yoga breathing trick my dad had shown me. Inhaling for five seconds, hold for two seconds, exhaling for five seconds. It was a good technique to focus the mind. After my fourteenth round, I checked my two wrist blades, straightened my gloves, and cocked my sidearm before rising to my feet. I cracked my neck and pressed the unmute button on my earpiece.

“This is Blake Bradley,” I spoke to Headquarters, “Ready for engagement.”

“Roger Blake,” Black Team Politician Spike informed me, “Lsyric has informed me that the target has arrived at Battery Park. Your mission is a go.”

With that, I raised my hoodie over my head to darken my face. With a deep breath, I bounced upon the flag pole to spring my launch. After the third spring, I launched myself off the pole and towards a nearby building. As I flew through the air I pressed the pad to select the grappling hook.

One of our most well designed features; our gloves incorporate special electric fibers. They not only work as super strong magnates when activated, but they also allow us to select what wrist weapon we use. Whether it would be the hidden knife, hidden grapple hook, or hidden gun; like I said we really wanted to name ourselves The Assassin’s Creed but Ubisoft only allowed us to work with the hidden blade concepts.

Out of my right wrist shot a small grapple hook on a long twine string. It flew towards the roof of the nearest building. Once it reached the top of the building, I grabbed the rope and it stuck. As I swung towards the neighboring building, with my left hand I reached out and grabbed it.

With my glove allowing me to grip the building, I ran across the side of the building. With each step I charged up the building towards the roof. I didn’t reach it of course but I managed to repel myself to the next building’s roof. I climbed up and began running south again. Leaping from roof top to roof top I managed to pick up my speed towards Battery Park. Upon arrival, I used my grapple hook to repel down one of the buildings to the ground level.

Blending within the darkness in between the lights and whatever small crowds were gathered around in the cold park. Despite my brisk step, it was a slow walk towards the waterline. As I scanned the waterline, I spotted my target and began moving towards him. He stood nearly five feet five inches and was doing his best to avoid sight. That wasn’t going to save him tonight though.

I motioned my way around a love struck couple and approached him. It was a direct approached and a simple glance to his left would’ve revealed my approach, but fortunately for me he didn’t see me. At least that’s what I first thought. I was within five steps of him when he suddenly turned to the railing and rested his shoulders on it. Then in a low voice I heard him speak, “Hello Assassin, bit of a dark night don’t you think.”

I stopped in my tracks and clenched my fists ready to draw my blade, but didn’t. Killika was up to something. “So you knew I was coming?” I asked.

“I had a hunch but nothing tangible. So do you plan to kill me here then dump my body into the Hudson?” Killika asked in return.

“Something like that,” I stalled. My ears were listening for any footfalls that were growing nearer, and just my luck three heavy steps were getting louder. “Though I was going to inscribe our symbol upon your back, you know standard operating procedure for us knights.” I continued.

I heard Killika chuckle, “Well I’m glad I was able to throw a wrench into your plans.”

With that I heard three people rush towards me and saw Killika break into a westward run. Though my gut was telling me to chase Killika, my training told me to deal with these three first. I drew my blades and spun around, catching one with a quick and fatal strike across the neck. Another tried to come at me with a poorly executed flying Hayman punch. But I deflected it and dug my blade into his heart. The third man tried to pull a Glock G22 on me. But I grabbed the gun, pulled it out of his hand, broke the arm to which the hand belong to, pulled the assailant down to which he was bowing next to me, and then cut his brain from his spine.

With three men dead I pulled out my own firearm and pointed it in Killika’s direction. But when I saw my line of shot, I noticed the same loving couple I had moved past was now getting in the way. Worse still, Killika was getting closer to the street.

“Vilg,” I shouted and took off after him. Leaping over park benches and fences, I raced at full speed towards Killika. For a runner, I was no Usain Bolt but I was pretty fast. In no time at all I managed to close upon Killika. Better yet, the poor bastard had the unfortunate act of indecisiveness. I leapt off one of the park benches and got some good air underneath me. Then drawing my blades, I pounced upon Killika in an aerial attack that would have made Ezio Auditore Da Firenze jealous. I buried my left blade into the back of Killika’s neck, ending his life.

“Himd ur biesi,” I spoke in Al Bhed, roughly translated to ‘Rest in Peace.’ With that complete I reached into my pants pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, I placed it on the bodies back. On the paper was a perfect circle with a small X in the middle, the symbol of the Black Knights.

A small crowd was beginning to gather around the body, so I couldn’t stay to loot the kill. Quick as a flash I bolted away from the body heading north. But several would be good Samaritans chased after me. Rule number two about Assassinations, ‘if you get caught it’s your own damn fault.’ No doubt these guys were going to hold me until the police showed up so I had to vanish. We Black Knights, unlike Splitter Cell, are considered Vigilantes by the world government. While they do little to spoil or end our overall operations, they do get involved in our field work and if we get caught we face full charges of the law.

Vanishing was a huge deal. I raced up and down blocks dodging cars and pedestrians alike on foot. My movements were erratic and unpredictable. My primary hope was to make into a subway station and lose my pursuers there. But a few of them were good runners and managed to keep up. Finally I found a construction site and charged it. True to my Parkour ways, it was easy for me to climb the scaffolding and reach a roof top. From there I shot west over to a few more buildings before reaching an empty street.

With no one around, I clambered down the building to the street and then calmly walked into a crowd. Blending within the crowd, I got to a station, climbed aboard the E train, and headed to the PATH station. My mission was done.

Meanwhile in another part of town, a lonely alleyway erupted in a folly of lights and lightning. A swirling mass of black energy was moving through the alley way. Though despite this breathtaking show, no one noticed it as the sound was masked under the hustle and bustle of the city at night. Then as quickly as it had appeared, the mass was gone.

In its wake a slender woman with long blue hair and no clothes resting near a dumpster. On her hip was a tattoo of a crescent moon with the blackness of space around it. The woman stirred and rose to a sitting position. She could barely even hold herself up she was so drained of energy. She only managed to get a single sentence out, “Where are we, why have we been brought here. My sister Celestia, please help me.”

But then the woman collapsed, her energy depleted.

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

OBK GHQ/New York/New Jersey District HQ

The Former Sims Metal Management site, New Jersey

October 31st, 2040, 9:05 AM

Blake Bradley Transmitting

I awoke the next morning late as my Alarm clock must have broken during the middle of the night. So I had to rush my early morning workout routine. However I had a pleasant surprise going for me in the workout room. Two of my teammates were working out in a very weird way. Lsyric was doing handstand pushups with Jezebel sitting Zen style on his feet. And it obviously had been going on for some time as Lsyric had reached the count of twenty.

I shook my head at the duo as I walked towards the weight rack, “What are you two doing?”

“It is a perfect training exorcise,” Jezebel answered, “For Lsyric it is teaching strength and focus, for me it’s teaching me balance and core strength.”

“Easy for you to say,” Groaned Lsyric.

“You guys are crazy; break this up before you hurt each other.” I laughed as I picked up some strap on weights.

Figuring that I was right, Jezebel straightened herself out before leaping off Lsyric and landing perfectly. Lsyric right himself as I finished strapping on my arm, wrist, and ankle weights. I tossed over some weights towards Jezebel while Lsyric grabbed some of his own.

“So how exactly did that feel?” I asked Lsyric.

“Very painful but Jezebel says it will make me stronger and harder so I’m not going to complain.” Lsyric answered, “Aren’t you going to weight lift first.”

“Ah I can’t, I just woke up some I’m going to forego that and just free-run train.” I answered.

“You two, apparently many of us were kept asleep because of faulty electrical clocks.” Jezebel commented.

I looked at her, “Now that’s interesting, was there an electrical storm last night?”

“Not to my knowledge no,” Jezebel answered.

I nodded, “Okay, best not to dwell on it now let’s get our free-run in.” Lsyric and Jezebel nodded and we got to training.

The Order of the Black Knight’s GHQ is actually located within the state of New Jersey, right in Jersey City at the old Sims Metal docks. Located there now are two massive warehouses that are supposed to be owned by the Port Authority. But thanks for some friends in the PA; we managed to secretly acquire both complexes for our three bases.

Located within these two warehouses are the New Jersey District HQ in building one, and ten feet to the north is the New York HQ and General Head Quarters. Reason for the split is not because of the New York/New Jersey rivalry but because of the buildings layout. The main floor is divided into two shares. On one side is many large shipping containers arraigned in an obstacle course. Many of the stacked containers reach to the upper echelons of the building to reach the girders, beams, and struts. Like I said, Parkour is part of the job and this obstacle course reinforces it.

On the other side of the building is a flat area with the walls laced with tons of computers. This is where our computer agents monitor not only their district State but the world as well. At least in GHQ they monitor the world, District HQs monitor their own districts. There’s also a second level where the weight room, showers and bathrooms, and dorms are for field agents. The dorms are small, able to fit one comfortably and they're our homes away from homes.

The New Jersey district houses only twenty people due to that being the amount of agents within New Jersey. New York has about fifty agents. GHQ has seventy, counting myself. I am the GHQ second in command, or Master Assassin rank, as well as leader and field agent of Black Team. The seventy members of GHQ, much like all the other districts, are grouped up into teams of ten. Four field agents, two political agents who determine when and where to kill targets, two weapons and mechanic agents, and two computer agents. The teams are broken within several different names which we managed to claim due to technicalities that I digress to explain; Black, Altair, Ezio, Connor, Yugi, Kiba, and Pegasus.

You’ve already met two of my teammates, Lsyric and Jezebel who are both field agents. The final field agent you’ll meet later on as he’s on mission at the moment. Lsyric is actually from Texas and was part of the Huston District before his skills warranted him to be promoted to GHQ team. Jezebel hails from Istanbul and actually worked with our Middle East Group in Turkey and Iraq. Both of them joined a year after The Union invasion because the invasion had directly affected their families.

After the three of us completed a long training of free running, we got back to the dorm level to shower and clean up. Just after I finished a nice warm shower and returned to my room, GHQ commander and Leader of the Order Marcus Break knocked on my door. “Bradley you decent?” he asked.

“Got my pants on now Marcus come on in!” I answered.

Marcus opened the door, “Blake once you’re fully dressed we need you down stairs for a mission brief, something to do with an electrical event last night.”

“Okay I’ll be down soonest.” I nodded.

With that Marcus left. After I got my shirt on and laced up my sneakers, I headed down stairs. As I reached the mission control area, I could see Marcus standing with my mission coordinator/political agents Spike and Hal as well as the GHQ’s computer whiz Deseret. On the main mission map, which was a giant projector screen, was West 39th street. “What’s up?” I asked already figuring the answer had to do with West 39th.

I heard Lsyric and Jezebel approach behind me along with my fourth field Agent Mercury, who just got back from his own mission. Marcus turned around to address us.

“Good morning team, around 1:30 am this morning, a massive electrical event occurred somewhere on West 39th street. The event was powerful enough to knock out many electrical systems for the morning. However it was quiet enough for it to go unnoticed by the city.” Marcus briefed, “We only just discovered left over traces it about an hour ago. Here’s the thing that makes this important to us, there seems to be traces of Emerson energy within the residue.”

“You think it might have something to do with the Union?” I asked.

“Maybe not directly, but over the past few hours several Union agents have cordoned off the road. They’re obviously looking for something but have no idea what.” Deseret told us.

“Well if it’s damn important to them, it’s even more important to us.” Mercury commented.

“Exactly, Blake I want you to take your team to West 39th Street and find out what the Union is looking for. Find it and bring it back here with limited casualties.” Marcus ordered.

“West 39th is a long street, gonna take a while to search it.” Lsyric commented.

“Well better get going then.” I laughed.

About two and a half hours later, my team was deployed upon West 39th Street. Sure enough the street had several Union agents dressed in civilian clothes walking around checking every back alleyway and store front.

“Well Deseret was on to something, they are defiantly looking for something.” I mentioned to my ear piece.

“Would seem that way,” Jezebel replied, “Do you have any leads on your end?”

“Nothing yet, no machines or any weapons that would point out anything useful to the Union.” I answered walking across a roof top.

I spotted Lsyric off in the distance tailing two Unionites, “Yea, these guys don’t have a clue what they’re after. My guess it could be anything.”

As I leapt from one building to the next, I was hoping maybe one of them would lead to whatever it was they were looking for. But none of them could. Finally I crossed over an alley way and perched myself atop the roof overlooking the street. “So we can rule out weapon of mass destruction, even these idiots would’ve been able to have found that.”

“You can also rule out spy teams or infiltration units.” Mercury added.

“So then what in the hell are these guys looking for?” Jezebel answered.

I was about to answer her when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Lying on the ground near a metal chimney was a naked woman with blue hair. Thinking quickly, I quietly lowered myself to that level and approached the woman. She was unconscious but unhurt. She was lying on her stomach, and from what I could see on both her hips was a greatly done tattoo of the crescent moon in the starlit sky.

Her hair was navy blue and she seemed very slender despite having a decent bust. I reached for her neck to check her pulse, but as I did I felt my glove twitch. When it did that that meant there were Emerson Force particles in the area. This actually was a glitch in my gloves that I never got corrected. Now it was paying off.

“Uh guys, I think I found something.” I said into the ear piece, “It’s a woman, navy hair, fair skin, probably mid-twenties, crescent moon tattoo on her hips. But she’s giving off a lot of Emersion energy. 364W39.”

“Stand by Blake; I was just there hanging on.” Lsyric said.

After a few seconds, Lsyric appeared after climbing over a fence. Quickly he checked her pulse. “She’s alive, best I can tell.” I told him.

“Good senses,” Lsyric agreed standing up and took off his jacket. Yes he wears a jacket with a sweater hoodie, he’s Texan and not used to New York Winters. Any who, I picked up the woman just as Lsyric wrapped his jacket around her body. Surprisingly she was half his size and the jacket covered all the necessary parts.

“So what do we do now?” Lsyric asked.

“Deseret can you get us a van?” I asked over the mike.

“Not on that street, you’re gonna have to get off West 39th.” Deseret answered.

Both Lsyric and I looked at each other. But without a word I lifted up the woman, Lsyric helped with me lowering the woman down to ground. But just as I jumped down to join him, we found ourselves surrounded by the very Unionites we were tracking. “Can we help you gentlemen,” I asked thinking quickly.

More of them started appearing, as if they knew we were coming. Or probably Lsyric got noticed and they tracked him to me. Any way we were outnumbered seven to one. Then I started hearing the clicks of guns. “Guess not.” I whispered.

Both Lsyric and I prepared ourselves for battle. I managed to move the woman out of the way just in time. One of the Unionites charged. Lsyric raised his blade and dug it into the attacker’s heart. Another rushed me from my left. I cracked him in the noise with my elbow than knocked him out with a jab across the face. As another came, I drew my blade and stabbed him through the chest.

But more were coming faster than we could engage. Fortunately for me, Jezebel and Mercury leapt from the roof of a nearby building and dove on the cluster of bodies. “Go now!” I heard Jezebel shout, “Take the girl and run, we will hold them off!”

Not wanting to be told twice, I knocked another attacker out before picking the woman up. As my team held off the Unionites, I took off running with the woman cradled in my arms. But several Unionites took off after me. Not thinking, I charged down Ninth Avenue to try.

Now normally I could just climb a building, jump down into the subway, or even blend with a crowd. Not this time since I was holding a chick who probably weighted no more than one thirty. It was because of this that I was also running slower than I usually do. Plus the sight of a hooded man caring a half-naked, unconscious woman down Manhattan streets was drawing me a lot of attention. So much so that everyone I was passing, I felt the urge to tell them that it was far from anything they were thinking.

The Union boys that were chasing me also were gaining on me, that’s when my heart began to race. “Deseret any chance of a pickup?”

“Negative, too much traffic and civilian witnesses, I hate to say it you're gonna have to shoot for the Subway.” Deseret told me.

“The Subway are you kidding me, you do realize my predicament!?” I shouted as I raced passed West 36.

“Well you got any better plans?” Deseret answered.

She did have me there. The five Unionites were now gaining ground on me, worse still I could hear sirens in the background. I had to vanish and fast. I turned down West 35th and found my savior. An alley way right next a Deli. I dove into it. Though I knew she’d probably protest, I placed the woman down next to a garbage bag. With her safely on the ground, I pressed my back against the deli’s building wall. I waited silently for any Unionites to appear. Fortunately one did, even better was he was alone. I quickly grabbed the guy, covered his mouth before he could scream, and silenced his life forever. “Himd ur biesi.” I whispered into his ear as he fell limp.

Dragging the body into the alley, I promptly disposed the body into a trash after leaving our symbol on his back. When the lid of the trash slammed shut, it hit with a crash. Then I heard a soft moan from the direction I left the blue haired girl. I saw her shift her head as she stirred.

“Well maybe now we can get some answers.” I said to myself as I walked over to her. For the first time since I had left GHQ, I lowered my hood and knelt down to the woman. “If you can hear and understand me, please nod your head.” I told her softly.

Slowly, the woman responded by nodding your head.

“Okay good, now my name is Andrew. You’re safe on West 35th street Manhattan, New York. I need you to open your eyes and look at me, can you do that please?” I asked.

Slowly the woman turned her head towards me and opened her eyes. Her eyes were a bright shade of blue, almost as bright as my father’s blue eyes. They carried the look of unsure, but also a bit of safety and trust. A trust I was sure that I couldn’t break. I returned her action with a warm smile, “Hello, I’m Andrew Pinto. What is your name?”

She looked at me very confused, “Name…?”

“Yes your name, a title you use to distinguish yourself from someone else.” I answered.

“We…..” she started, “We do not remember.”

I took a very deep sigh at that statement, “Well that complicates things.”

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

W35th Street, Manhattan, New York

Alley next to Deli

October 31st, 2040, 11:31 am

Blake Bradley Transmitting

Mission: Escort VIP

“Okay, well let’s start from the basics. What exactly do you remember?” I asked her.

The woman stammered trying to find any memory, but unfortunately nothing, “We’re sorry but we do not remember anything before you banged that thing.” She pointed to the trash dispenser.

“I see, well you don’t know your name and I’m probably sure you don’t know where you are from do you?” I asked trying to hold back my frustration. It didn’t work and the woman looked hurt. “Sorry, I guess we’re both out of our comfort zone.” I apologized.

“Comfort zone?” she asked tilting her head a bit.

“A place where we feel safe and secure, you know comfortable.” I explained. The woman nodded, then began to inspect the Lsyric’s jacket. While she did that, I pressed my ear piece to single HQ. But then I noticed the woman trying to unzip her jacket. “Uhhh don’t do that,” I ordered softly.

“Why is this thing covering us?” she asked.

“It’s called a jacket; it keeps you warm in this weather.” I answered.

“Oh, we like it. It’s comfortable.” She answered and started to snuggle within the jacket.

I snickered, “I’ll pass that along to Lsyric.” Finally I heard a beep in my earphone, “Base this is Bradley copy?”

“Loud and Clear Bradley what’s up? Have you eluded the Unionites?” Deseret asked.

“Gave them the slip on West 35th, be advised the woman is conscious and responsive albeit amnesic.” I answered, “Can you get me a ride besides the subway?”

“Turns out the PATH isn’t going to be an option. There was a massive derailment at the WTC station, possible sabotage. We have Ezio and Excelsior team looking into it now to see if the Union was involved. There were also a lot of casualties so Bellevue’s gonna be inundated along with a few others.” Deseret answered.

“Vilg,” I cursed, “Well the only other option is Pier 11 is the 1 still working?”

“1 is still running to Wall street yes. If you leave now you can catch the next one. We’ll have Jacob at the docks waiting and then Chris back here to examine the VIP.” Deseret ordered.

“Roger that Blake out.” I said muting the ear piece. I then turned back to the woman, “Okay we need to leave, and I’m going to take you back to my place. I have some friends who might be able to help you, do you understand.”

“Yes we do, it would help us greatly.” She replied.

“Alrighty well, can you stand up?” I asked lowering my hand to help her to her feet.

The woman looked a bit scared for a moment, but I think she trusted me enough to know that I’d help her in case she fell. She grabbed my hand and I helped pull her to her feet. However she seemed very uncomfortable at first and nearly fell, but I managed to catch her. “We’re sorry.” She apologized.

“It’s okay, your equilibrium’s off. Just throw your support on me.” I encouraged her. Just as I requested, she threw many of her balancing weight upon me. “Okay now let’s get walking; remember one foot in front of the other.”

While saying the line was all well and good, actually preforming the task seemed to be more difficult for the woman. However after several steps, she managed to get the walking down. At least I was there to provide her a steady rock to support.

“So where are we going?” she asked.

“34th Street and Penn Station, going to take the 1 Subway.” I answered.

“What is this Subway?” she asked.

“An underground transportation network that connects this entire city,” I answered again.

“And this is an efficient means of travel?” she asked.

“When walking isn’t your privy, the subway is the next best thing.” I replied quoting a line my older brother once told me, “You’ll understand better when we arrive.” It didn’t take us long to reach the station, plus with the Unionites no longer chasing us the walk was much more enjoyable. The woman held my hand the whole way, both as to not loose me and to use me as a balancing pole. However I grew very sick of calling her the woman, so I drummed up another conversation, “So do you have any memory of what your name could possibly be?”

“No we do not,” she answered shyly, “It is as if the name is standing there before us but we cannot reach it.”

I nodded, “Well usually people remember their names by visual cues. Let’s look at the obvious about you. You do have two crescent moon tattoos on your hips,”

“We do?” she asked. She was about to check but then remember what I said about removing the jacket.

“You’re gonna have to trust me on that one until you have a chance to check.” I answered as we reached the steps descending towards the subway, “They were pretty detailed too, so my guess is you had some relation to the moon. Maybe your name’s Midnight, Twilight, Moon, or maybe even…”

The woman suddenly stopped as a thought reached her, “Luna,”

I looked back at her, “You remembered?”

She shook her head no, “It just feels right.”

I nodded and considered it for a moment. Like it or not the name Luna did fit her well. “Well Luna it is then.”

She looked down at me with a warm and joyful smile. I returned with a half sure one of my own, “Come on Luna, we’re going to miss our train.”

She nodded and descended the steps with me. After I bought us two tickets, true to Deseret’s word the 1 subway to Wall Street arrived. We boarded the train and rode it all the way to Wall Street station where we departed. “Now where are we off too? We thought this subway was going to take us to your place.” Luna asked as we disembarked and began to head back to the surface.

“I never said it would,” I answered her, “This subway has taken us to Pier 11 Wall Street where we will embark on a boat to my place.” Before she could say another word, I noticed out of the corner of my eye someone standing up from a bench and beginning to follow us. While it might’ve been nothing, I still raised my hood. This got Luna’s attention.

“What are you doing?” she asked concerned.

“Taking precautions, nothing to fear.” I answered not meaning a word of the last part. We continued walking towards the pier, Luna more concerned about keeping upright than my heightened sensitivity. Sure enough, the mystery man was indeed following us step for step, block by block. Though he was keeping a good distance, I could where he was at any given moment. Figuring that once we’d hit the dock we’d lose him, I did nothing but stay the course.

When we reached the docks, I was glad to see that it was indeed packed and the two of us easily blended within the crowd. As we made our way past crowds of people pouring on to the ferries, I spotted Jacob Astor’s Yacht the Regalia. “And there’s our boat,” I told Luna, “The Regalia.”

“Ah Bradley, good to see you again.” Jacob waved from the helm as Luna and I approached, “And I’ve seen that you brought a guest, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“VIP transport Astor,” I explained, “Excuse me Luna.” Without waiting for a response, I picked Luna up and then carried her onto the boat. Once we were onboard, I placed her gently back on to her feet.

“And what was that for?” she asked me with a very confused look on her face.

“Save me time and frustration plus we are now on a clock so could you please go do down into the bedroom and wait there please.” I said escorting her to the stairs that lead to the cabin inside. Luna was very confused about my sudden change of pace, but she did as she was told.

Once she was inside the cabin I closed the door just as Jacob was approaching me, “What’s up?”

“We got a tracker, start up the engine I’ll untie the boat.” I told him sternly.

Jacob quickly rushed to the helm to start the engine while I worked on untying us from the docks. After I finished unknotting the first and second rope, I quickly rushed to the third. But that was when I felt eyes upon me. I looked up and there standing on the docks was our tracker. He standing several feet away from the boot and was looking at me with dagger eyes. I realized then that his goal wasn’t just to track us, “Jacob start the engine, get us out of here!”

Right on cue Jacob started the engine and the man ran right for the boat. I drew my hidden blade and cut the rope to allow the boat to move freely. However the boat didn’t move fast enough as the man managed to leap off the docks and land safely on the Stern.

“Hey no free rides!” I heard Jacob shout. I also heard Luna yelp within the boat, I knew then that she was watching. But I couldn’t dwell on it. Quickly I charged the Unionite as he tried to knock me out with a blow to the head. I ducked and avoided that hit, but he came back with a shot to my jaw that did hit it’s mark.

Fortunately I was unfazed and gave him several return punches. As the two of us struggled, Jacob tore through the waters of the Hudson and New York Harbor racing toward Port Liberte. Finally I got under the Unionite’s defenses and stabbed him in the chest. Before I could say anything to the corpse, I heard Jacob shot, “Hey Blake, I gotta gunboat heading right towards me!”

“Vilg,” I cursed and threw the body overboard. Moving quickly, I reached the bow of the boat and sure enough there was a Union gun boat coming right at us from the port. Worse still, it’s machine gun was pointed right at me and plugging away. I knew exactly what type of bullets they were using and waited till the right moment to dodge.

In the Emerson world, technology has advanced so far that there are now such a thing as Smart Bullets. These bullets carry tiny microchips that, through the use of built in rudders, can actually steer a bullet while in flight. This was another nifty invention the Red Forces created that got leaked on to the open market. Open Market Smart Bullets however can only turn within a radius of fifteen degrees while standard RF shots can turn thirty degrees. Because of this, OMSB gun operators load dummy tracers before the actual bullets to act as guiders. So if you’re facing an OMSB equipped gun, it’s actually a decent idea to wait one second before diving out of the way.

Waiting the full one second, I dove towards the starboard side of the ship as the bullets sailed right over head. Before the gun boat could line up another shot, Jacob increased the Regalia’s speed and we sped right past them. However I never heard of a Union Terrorist force just giving up. Sure enough the gunboat suddenly appeared on the starboard side, and it was close enough that two Unionites jumped ship on to our own.

One of them broke one of the windows leading into the cabin. What I saw next surprised me. Luna screamed and raised her hands to shield her from the attacker. And as she did that, a beam of light shot from one of her nails and struck both men, blowing them clean into the air. The captain of the other boat was so shocked by this; he instantly pulled his ship back as to not get hit by another beam of light.

“This girl can use Magic!?” I heard Jacob shot.

“Apparently so.” I said to myself. I quickly ran over to the cabin to check on Luna. She was sitting on one of the lazy chairs looking at her hands, more amazed than I was at what she did. At least she was unhurt. My attention drew back to the Union gunboat that was now trying to catch up to us. I looked at Jacob, “Get her to the base! I’ll deal with these guys! Don’t come back for me!”

Before I could hear a protest from either, I charged the stern at full speed and leapt off the Regalia. Flying through the air, I landed right on the port side of the gunboat. One of the Unionites attempted to kill my by shooting me, I answered by grabbing his gun and using it to pull him overboard, giving him a good stab as he went over the rail. With one down and what I hoped was one to go, I pulled myself up onto the deck of the ship. Unfortunately I had miss counted and there were two left, the Gunner and the Captain.

The Gunner attempted to turn the gun at me, but I jumped onto the gun and ended him by stabbing him into the throat. With one left, I leapt into the air and dove on the Captain. With one strike to the chest, I cut him down. However it wasn’t an instant death, so I had time to question, “What does the Union want with Luna?!”

“She….She’s special to Draco.” The captain coughed.

“How is she Special, in what way?!” I continued. Unfortunately that would be the last breath of the captain, as he expired there. I cursed under my breath, but managed to say, “Himd ur biesi.” Just then I heard a clang on the hull. Looking behind me, I saw the captain had dropped a ‘Dead-man’s charge.’ “Oh Shit!” I shouted and raced off the gunboat.

I managed to dive into the water and submerge just in time to avoid the shockwave of the explosion. Resurfacing a few minutes later, I saw the burning hulk slide beneath the waves. I also saw that I was within swimming distance of GHQ. Despite the water being extremely cold and the weather not doing much in the way of warmth, I began my long swim.

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

OBK GHQ/New York/New Jersey District HQ

The Former Sims Metal Management site, New Jersey

October 31st, 2040, 1:23pm

Blake Bradley Transmitting

After about a twenty minute swim through the near frozen New York Harbor, my energy was nearly shot. I clambered up the pier and began my limp towards the warehouse, finally arriving a few moments later. With all my strength I banged on the door. Sure enough our doorman, Allan Richard Soonja, decided to be cute and open the eye slot. “Password?” he asked looking at me as if he didn't know who I was.

“Are you serious?” I shot back, “its Blake Bradley.”

“Don’t matter if you’re the frigging Queen of France, what’s the password?” Allan replied.

“Allan, it’s thirty degrees out here, I just swam through the icy Harbor, and I’m freezing and suffering from near hypothermia. Please open the fucking door and get me a towel!” I ordered.

“Come on Bradley just say the damn password.” Allan answered.

I’m gonna fucking kill you, I thought. After a minute of being silent my shivering body made me gave in, “Caput Draconis.”

“Sorry Bradley that was last week’s password, what’s this one?” Allan grinned.

That’s when I finally lost it. With all my rage and anger I kicked the door in shattering the lock and breaking two hinges. Allan fortunately had enough foresight to back up before the door came flying at him. However he wasn’t fast enough and I broke his nose in the process. As I walked inside, I saw Allan lying on the ground cradling his face half laughing and half writing in pain.

“There’s your fucking password,” I gripped as I walked in. almost instantly I felt the warm air and pulled off my jacket.

He did managed to groan “Oh fuck you Bradley. Fuck you!”

“Can somebody grab me a towel?” I shouted into the warehouse as I pulled off my shirt.

Sure enough my teams mechanic Ovatio came up to me with a towel, “Had a nice swim?”

“Would’ve been better had the waters been a bit warmer.” I answered wrapping the towel round me, “Where’s my team?”

“Still in the city, they linked up with Ezio and Excelsior to assist survivors.” Marcus answered.

I nodded as I began my walk towards the dorm level, “Where’s Luna?”

“Upstairs with Chris.” Marcus answered.

I nodded again. As I headed up the steps towards the Dorm level, my mind was mostly thinking about warming up. Little of it had to actually do with reviewing the mission, probably a good idea considering how cold the Harbor actually was and how close to hypothermia I actually was. All that changed however when I entered the Lounge/Game room, which was the area you entered into immediately from the stairwell. I spotted Luna sitting at one of the tables, now wearing a shirt and some sweatpants I think Catharine from Yugi team gave her.

The Orders trusted doctor, Chris Knight, was sitting next to her probably discussing to her what exactly his job entails. However when Luna saw me, she got up and ran over to me. It was a clumsy run yes as I don’t think her equilibrium had returned, but she did make it to me without falling flat on her face. “Andrew, art thou okay?” she asked me.

“Just a little cold, don’t worry I’ve survived worse.” I reassured her.

Luna took a deep sigh, “That is glorious news; we thought you would not return.”

I smiled at that, “Don’t worry, takes a lot more than cold water to kill me. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go dry up.” I then looked over at Chris, “Take good care of her, you have no clue how much it took to get her here.”

Chris laughed, “Don’t worry Blake, I’ve never disappointed.”

But just as I was about to go, Luna grabbed my arm. She didn’t need to tell me why, her face told me everything I needed to know. “Don’t worry, Chris is a good doctor. He’ll take care of you. And I’ll join you once he’s finished okay?”

Luna seemed to pounder my reassurance for a moment, “Okay, We trust thee.” With a nod she let me go.

About an hour and fifty minutes later, I managed to warm myself up, get changed, and check in on Luna. It was around that same time that Chris was finishing up his check up on Luna. Chris had now moved her to the weight room to measure height and weight, as well as a few “other” details I will not mention for Doctor/Patient Privacy.

Deseret was actually there waiting for me, which meant that our GHQ Hacker Samantha Robinson was back. She was sitting over at the table eating on a Subway sandwich; I also noticed three others resting on the table.

“One of them for me?” I asked.

“Of course,” Deseret answered picking up my sandwich, “I just picked them up anyway so felt you earned a good one. Steak, egg, and cheese with avocado right?”

“Oh you know me well.” I said, “Those two for Chris and Luna?”

“Three for three you’re on a roll today!” Deseret replied as I unwrapped my sandwich. As I took my first bite, I heard Luna finish up her physical and head towards us.

Luna reached us first, “Ah Andrew is thou feeling better?”

“Much better,” I answered swallowing a bite of my sandwich. Luna looked at my sandwich and I could tell she was extremely hungry, “Don’t we got you one of your own.” I then handed her the sandwich marked “L,” Deseret didn’t stop me so I knew that had to be hers.

Luna took a look over the wrapped sandwich before looking at how Deseret and I ate. Then she attempted to eat her own sandwich without unwrapping it. Fortunately Deseret stopped her, “Honey, why don’t you take the paper off it first. Trust me it will taste better.”

Luna looked at the wrapped up sandwich before unwrapping it. After she pulled off the paper, Luna took a huge bite of the sandwich and instantly her face lit up as she chewed. Chris walked up and picked up his own sandwich, “Good you got her something to eat. She was suffering from acute case of malnutrition.”

“Well doc how is she?” I asked between bites.

“Well Blake, besides the case of Amnesia, which I can find no physical reason for, she’s perfectly healthy. Actually she’s better than okay, her stamina is twice that of a human. Better yet she has great reaction time and extreme leg strength.” Chris answered.

“That’s good enough for me,” I smiled.

Luna was not even paying to our conversation; she was too busy stuffing her face with the sandwich that Deseret brought.

“Okay so we know she didn’t hit her head or suffer any other form of physical trauma?” Deseret asked.

“Yes, from what I can see there’s no sign of physical damage.” Chris answered.

“What about the mental side of amnesia.” I asked.

“I ran some of the basic level questions; though I didn’t find anything I wouldn’t put much into it.” Chris answered, “However my personal opinion is, I don’t think she had a life before appearing on West 39th.”

“Could she be a game sprite?” I asked.

Again Luna was paying no attention; she was halfway through her foot long sandwich when I asked that question. Whatever ingredients Deseret asked to be put in, she was enjoying them.

“That’s the most logical explanation, but the normal key codes won’t activate on her. So if she is a sprite, her operating system must’ve fully switched over when she came to Earth.” Chris answered.

Now for those who aren’t technically or Sci-fi inclined, a game Sprite is a sentient and in-game created being. Unlike NPC’s, they weren’t created by game designers or any type of artist, in fact we’re not even sure how Sprites came to be. One theory is that game sprites were formed out of errors in the Emerson operating system, or that they were NPCs that evolved into something else since Emerson NPC’s can interact and work with in-game players.

The first Game Sprite, Giga, was discovered on Skyrim by Blaze Johnson over ten years ago. It was found that she had accidently been transported to Skyrim from her home planet, later determined to be Gaia which was used as the test planet for the Emerson creators. Game Sprites, much like objects and NPCs from Emerson, can be brought to Earth though they are able to maintain their in-game format. One way to tell is to press three key points under the chin of the sprite. If they eyes light up and project a virtual display of codes, you’ve gotta sprite.

Why that wasn’t working on Luna, I had no idea. I’m sure it probably escaped Chris and Deseret too. “So what do we do with her?” I asked.

“We’ll have to take that up with Marcus, but I’d say we keep her. I mean look at that cute face,” Deseret explained.

Luna had just finished her sandwich and was now ready to join the conversation. Only problem was she had no clue what it was about, “We’re sorry but what is the topic of conversation?”

This drew laughter from the three of us. Just then the PA system crackled to life and Marcus’s voice said, “Blake Bradley, please join us in command.”

Luna seemed a little shocked and scared by the PA system, to which Deseret explained what it was. I meanwhile took a look at my half eaten sandwich and sighed, “Wrap this up for me.”

When I reached Command Central, the projector screen was showing a CNN broadcast of the event at the WTC PATH station. It was then I figured I was heading back to the area. Sometimes I hate my intuition. “Bradley we need you to head back out to Lower Manhattan, Lsyric is reporting some interesting finds that demand full team involvement.” Marcus briefed.

“We have two teams and three elements of a third out there, what will one more agent make any difference,” I asked. Personally I was trying to get out of this job, the last one I did nearly killed me. Hell the last thirty five jobs I did nearly killed me. You know what now that I think about it all the jobs I’ve done here have nearly killed me. Why was I even complaining to begin with? Better yet why am I telling you this let’s just get back to the story.

“You might want to take back that question Bradley,” Marcus told me with an ‘I know something you don’t’ attitude, “According to Lsyric and Liberty, Michael Albetross is connected to this crash.”

The name caught my attention. Michael Albetross isn’t a name that would make anyone spit out their food at a dinner party, but his online alter-ego of “Bloody-Bear” will. Bloody-Bear was the third in command of the Union Forces located within New York. Furthermore, he was responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks along the East Coast. Amazing that he hasn’t been caught yet, thanks homeland security.

Well at least I would get my chance to take a shot at him. The other upside to this was I might’ve been able to get some information about why the Union was so interested in Luna. “What would you like me to do?” I asked.

“We would like you to report to the PATH station on Christopher Street, head south on the 1 to Chambers street and meet up with the rest of Black team there. We have Ezio team currently hunting down Albetross’s location and Excelsior still working on how Union forces carried out their attack.” Marcus briefed, “When you link up with Black team, you’ll be regulated to the Death Squad.”

Death Squad, the term that meant that Michael Albetross’s life was going to end today. Death Squads are called in for high priority and high stakes operations, more importantly it gave us a chance to take out the Bloody-Bear.

Samantha Soft, the GHQ’s ultimate hacker and once fashion designer, turned from her computer, “Since your jacket and gloves are still drying, we have your back up pair ready to go.”

“The Jacket or the Sweater?” I asked, As if it actually matters.

Sam didn’t answer so I knew it was the Jacket. After that I nodded and headed off to Ovatio.

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Black Team Rendezvous Point

Chambers Street, Manhattan, New York

October 31st, 2040, 4:59pm

Blake Bradley Transmitting

Mission: Hunt and Kill Bloody-Bear

When I got to Chambers street about two hours later; Jezebel, Mercury, and Lsyric were waiting for me. I gave them a subtle wave hello as I exited the Subway hole. The Trio was standing within a crowd that was waiting to cross the street, but departed the crowd and headed over to me. “Waiting long?” I asked.

“Not exactly long,” Mercury answered, “You fully dried?”

“Yes but I’m still really cold,” I answered.

“Welcome to the club,” Lsyric added.

“So what’s the story? Where’s the target.” I asked.

“Currently heading up West Broadway Street towards LaGuardia Place,” Mercury answered, “Ezio’s right behind him.”

“Brief me on the way,” I commanded. With that the four of us began walking towards Church Street. “Where’s the head off point going to be?” I asked.

“Best possible place will be Washington Square; hopefully the crowds will be light enough for us to strike.” Jezebel answered.

“Washington Square, we might be able to head him off if we take up Sixth Street.” I said, “Let’s get going.” I answered. With that we began moving a lot faster towards Sixth Street. Eventually we managed to find an empty patch of street to climb up a building to Parkour our way towards Washington Square. Ironically despite it being far more dangerous, Parkour actually is a lot more direct and faster means to get somewhere. So if you ever ask why we don’t ever walk the normal way, you just found out why.

Soon enough we managed to arrive at Washington Square, and just as I predicted we managed to beat Bloody-Bear to the punch. However the bear wasn’t going to make us wait long.

“Mario to Blake do you copy?” Mario Blaster, Ezio team leader and former member of the Italy/Rome district, “Bloody-Bear is two minutes away, you’re gonna have to set your team up fast!”

Washington Square was almost the perfect ambush point, what with all the trees. There also was hiding on top of the Arch which, due to the universal improbability of bad guys looking up, was a good spot to place a few sentries. Mercury and I took up positions near the Washington fountain; I hopped into a tree while Mercury sat down on a bench with his head down. Lsyric and Jezebel were atop the Arch as a backup in case neither Mercury nor I could complete the mission. Honestly I had a strong feeling that they were going to be needed. Bloody-Bear usually went around with a stiff entourage of people unless he was going to set off a blast.

It didn’t take us long to set up our trap. It wasn’t anything flashy, just us sneaking from our positions and attacking the Bear and his group. If any got away, Lsyric and Jezebel would pounce on them before they left the square. I was the closest to Washington Square Street and would be the first to see the Bear enter.

Sure enough I spotted Michael Albetross enter the square. He was completely unmistakable from the rest of the New Yorkers. Long blonde ponytail, half-moon spectacles on his face, thick beard and oh yea he’s about three hundred and ninety pounds. Honestly why do you think we call him the Bloody bear?

I shifted on the branch I was resting on as he walked in. my face was the text book definition of the emotion of horror, because the Bloody-Bear was alone. I keyed my mike as I slipped out of the tree, “The Bears alone repeat the Bloody-Bear is alone!”

“What!?” I heard Marcus shout over the mike, “This isn’t good Mercury, confirm that!”

It took Mercury a few seconds to verify the Bears position, but once he did, “Yes I can confirm it the bastard’s alone!”

“Shit this isn’t good, this is not good!” I said scrambling out of the tree, “There’s going to be a big boom coming our way and soon. Lsyric, you and Jezebel get down from your position and start evacuating people!”

“With what ploy, as you can obviously see this place is perfectly peaceful!” Lsyric shouted.

“We have no choice, Blake you are ordered to kill the bear, do it now!” Marcus answered.

Now before we continue this, I want you to consider this one very glaring mistake I made. I was armed with both my sidearm and my hidden-pistol blade. Now knowing this, please ask yourself why the hell I didn’t use either of them? Honestly I have no clue why I didn’t use them.

I charged from my position right after the Bear. Any unfortunate bystander in my way was thrown to the ground. Though I didn’t really care who I knocked out, they’d thank me compared to the alternative. I closed the distance between me and my target, my blade already drawn and waiting for his blood. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mercury charge from his position in case I missed.

But then something happened I’ll never forget. Michael turned towards me with an evil smile holding what looked like a triggering mechanism. My eyes widened when I realized what it could be. Before I could blink, he pressed the trigger.

A blast of brick and stone went off near me, the shockwave catching me square and throwing me to the ground. Two more explosions went off rocking the entire square. I looked up and see Mercury get hit by what I thought was flying debris and fall limp. “Mercury!” I shouted for my friend. But the cry was muffled by another explosion. In total seven blasts went off rocking the entire square.

My senses returned to me just after the seventh blast went off. I saw the bear take off towards the now vacated arch as fast as his legs could support him. I tried to stand up, took me a little bit but I managed to do it, and then I took off after the Bear. However he jumped into a vehicle that drove by and was up Fifth Avenue like a flash. Every bone in my body was telling me to go after him. But the crying of children drew my immediate attention. Spinning around I ran towards the sounds, back into the swarming mass of chaos and confusion. Two kids had gotten separated from their parents. Without waiting to see where they were, I picked up both kids in my arms and ran out of the square.

“Blake what are you doing go after Albetross, Ezio’s arriving they’ll help clean up!” Samantha shouted.

“My job!” was all I said back to her as I ran back into the square. This wasn’t a matter of taking out the target, which could wait; I had to help the people caught in the blast. Plus it would also give me insight into what the Bear’s actual goal here was. Time and time again I ran back into lift out people until I ran into my first body. Wouldn’t you know it was Mercury? That’s when I figured out what had actually happened. Mercury was dead, killed not by the explosions, but by a bullet to the chest. A bullet fired by a Remington XM2010. I looked around to see where it could’ve come from. Despite the weapon being long range, it was shot from a nearby building, better still the gunman was on the top floor of said building.

But all that would have to wait, Mercury had to come first.

As I picked him up, I said to him, “Your actions and sacrifice will not be forgotten my brother in arms, Himd Ur Biesi.”

I laid Mercury’s lifeless body down near the corner of Fifth and Washington Square. There Lsyric and Jezebel joined me, both okay with only some minor damage. It was then I took stock of what had happened. Dust and smoke had filled the square, making it hard to see into it. But from what I heard there was no one left within the square alive. By now the Bear was long gone, but I knew that the sniper hadn’t left yet.

“Watch over Mercury, take care of him until paramedics arrive.” I said removing Mercury’s blade and gloves. Then I handed them to Jezebel, “Then when they get here, head back to base and wait for me there.”

“What about you?” Lsyric asked evenly, this honestly was no time to cry over a dead teammate.

“Mercury and a few others of these people were slain by a sniper from the North. Probably one of the high-rises on 9th street, if I hurry, I can still catch him.” I explained. Then without another word, I began heading towards the shooters location. It was a bit of a run, and with the current area the way it was, I had to be extremely careful as to not cause eyes to turn on me. Finally I reached Fifth Avenue and 9th Street.

Looking up to find the tallest perch, I managed to find the likely launch point. Honestly if you’re good at math, a simple problem of determining what direction a bullet came from would be easy. I’d explain it but I know many of you are not good at math, plus I don’t want to put you back to sleep.

Discreetly entering the building was easy enough, many of the building occupants were going about the day as if nothing happened. I didn’t harbor any resentment to this; I did have a job to do. Plus it would be wrong of me causing an unnecessary panic. I walked through the lobby of the building, blending with the crowds as to avoid detection. Then when I entered an empty elevator, I brushed off some rubble that was on my shoulder.

Pressing the button for the top floor, I rode the elevator all the way up to the top. But something happened on the way up, a small conversation that would have huge future ramifications.

“Hey Blake,” Deseret said into the mike, “I see you’re not busy at the moment, care to entertain a question.”

I almost laughed at the timing, “You know I’m in the middle of something.”

“It’s Luna; she’s been here watching the whole operation unfold. She wants to ask you a question and won’t take no for an answer.” Deseret replied.

Normally I would’ve calmly told Deseret to wait until I got back to base. But something was driving me to answer her question. I didn’t know what, and considering the elevator still had a decent way to go, I decided to give in. “Alright put her on.” I answered.

After a brief pause, I heard Luna’s unsure voice come through. “Umm…tis this Mr. Bradley?” she asked.

“Let’s keep it Blake Luna, what’s your question?” I laughed.

“We would like to know, why thee went back into the square to save those people. Thou had the best opportunity to take out bear, yet you didn’t. Why is this so?” she asked.

I nodded taking in her question. A good one at best, probably one I asked myself many times when I was in similar situations before. But each time I did ask myself I gave the same answer I told Luna. “Well Luna, my job isn’t to simply kill. My job is to serve and protect the innocent people of Earth from the menace of the Union. I can’t really do that if I let good and innocent people perish senselessly. Taking a life is hard, but letting one be taking while knowing you can stop that is even harder.” I explained, “That is one the codes of the Black Knights, to defend the innocent.”

That seemed to answer Luna’s question as she went silent. After I took a deep breath, the elevator reached its destination and the doors opened. The level I was on was an office level. The workers, what little there were, were busy with their own actions to notice me as I walked through checking each office. A few did stop to ask if I needed help, to which I replied no. Then I found an empty conference room with the window opened. Letting myself in, I surveyed the room.

Sure enough the window opened to a perfect view of the now smoke free Washington Square. I took a long look out the window, getting my bearings and the angles from where I found Mercury’s body. They all matched from the earlier calculations I made. I turned around and looked at the long conference desk. Walking to the head of it, I rested myself on the desk in a manner similar to how a sniper would. It all lined up. So then I began my investigation.

Carpet isn’t a good material to leave prints in, but I managed to determine just enough that my target had left the room and headed towards the very elevator I had just left. And recently too. Now moving with due haste, I headed towards the elevator. Rather than taking up time waiting for another, I used the stairs to reach the lobby. As I descended each flight, through the use of deductive reasoning and some guess work, I figured my gunman was about five foot seven dressed in business attire and carrying a briefcase. Better still, he walked with a limp in his right foot, or was it the left, either way he had a limp. Like I said carpet is not a good tool to survey prints.

I managed to reach the lobby and walked my way out of the building. Sure enough I spotted my target. The gunman was in the parking lot across the street about to ascend the steps. If I hadn’t been as observant I would’ve missed him. But closer securitization of the man, even from the distance I was, showed a glaring sign. He had the Union’s emblem outlined on his suitcase. I crossed the street and raced into the parking lot after him.

I knew I wasn’t going to catch him on the stairs, but maybe I could reach him when he got to his vehicle. It took my two flights of steps to reach the level he was on; hampering my chase was I had to quickly check each level. Finally I reached him just as he found his car. Fortuity for me, he had fallen victim to the “Forgetting where I parked” bit. I caught up to him just as he was about to place his briefcase into the car.

While I was sure he was the gunman, killing him might have been bad because there still was the case I was wrong. So I decided to get his attention, “Going somewhere?”

The gunman spun around and was horrified to see me. What confirmed my search was he pulled out a Berretta M9 and tried to kill me with it. I grabbed the gun and tried to disarm him. But the Unionite put up a fight, firing off three rounds into the ground and two into the ceiling. With a jab to the gut, I managed to get him to drop the gun, but he responded with a shot to the jaw. I responded with an elbow to the noise and the Unionite backed up to the wall. I charged the gunman, but he tried to deflect me causing us both to fall over the side and towards the ground below.

Now me being a master at Parkour, I managed to spin to my feet and roll when the ground met me. The Unionite however wasn’t as fortunate as he landed hard on his side. When I got back on my own feet, he was struggling to get back on his own. I rushed him and dug my blade into his chest. Before the blood poured down my arm, I dragged the gunman into the parking garage and lay him in a corner hidden away.

“Where you the man who fired upon Washington Square?” I asked.

“Yea, Michael Albetross was the one who hired my services,” he answered willingly. I guess he knew the game was up.

“What was your plan?” I asked again.

“Kill the Black Knight who had taken the moon from us,” he answered a bit cryptically.

“The moon, you mean Luna?” I asked.

He nodded. Then with a painful sigh, he shifted, “Look, I don’t got a family to go home to, but I do have a sister with two gorgeous kids. I don’t want to die yet, not without seeing them grow up.”

I nodded, “Well you’re in lock then, that wound can be treated. However I think death would be a good alternative for you since surviving would mean the Union might come after you.”

“Look I know you guys, I know what you do, and I know you’ve protected deserters before.” He told me, “I was only hired to kill one of your own, not civilians. The cars not registered to me, if you just get rid of the gun I’ll be off the hook.”

“I understand you plight, an ambulance will be here within the hour that will take you to a hospital. When they ask, say you were one of the victims of the bombing, that stab wound can be easily misinterpreted as shrapnel wound that you simply removed. As for the gun and your sister’s family, leave that to us.” I said.

“Thanks mate.” He sighed.

“That stab by the way, was for Mercury. A man with a family who had everything to lose when he joined our order. You consider that next time you see your loved ones.” I told him and then left. After I exited the parking lot, I keyed the mike. “Deseret, get ambulances to this position as well as Excelsior team to remove the rifle on level four parking lot fifty seven.” I ordered, “And inform Marcus we have a deserter.”

And with that I headed back to base camp.

It was around seven at night when Luna had come up to me within the Dorm level. I was sitting at one of the tables within the rest area with Lsyric waiting for Jezebel to finish getting ready so we could go to dinner. When Luna approached, I could tell she had a very interesting question on her mind.

“Hey Luna what’s up?” Lsyric asked before I could get a peep out.

Luna nodded then looked at me, “Andrew, did you spare Mercury’s killer for the same reason you went back into the Square?”

I looked at Luna with a stoic and yet shocked face. Honestly I couldn’t believe she was asking these questions, though Chris did say she was very bright. “”It is human nature Luna to spare life. Even if that life has taken another. Spare him so that he may face justice down the road, whether by a court system or by his own conscious. I felt that letting him live with the horror of what he did would be far worse than killing him.”

Luna nodded, pondering every word I said. “Then would one consider that an honorable action?”

“If I had an answer for that, I’d be out on a soap box preaching that,” I answered, “So really I do not know.”

“But thou do fight with honor, to uphold the freedom and peace within the world.” Luna asked as if she was trying to have me confirm either her fears about us, or her hopes.

“She must’ve been hanging out with Marcus while we were on mission.” Lsyric said.

“Luna why are you asking this?” I asked her.

“Please answer our question before we answer yours.” Luna answered.

I nodded, “Alright I will, yes we do fight to protect the people. To protect and maintain freedom and peace from those who wish to take it with power.”

Luna nodded, dropped her head so that her bangs could cover her eyes, smiled briefly, and then looked at me. “Then, we would like to join thee.”

I was taken aback by the request. I think Lsyric was too, as was Jezebel who had walked in at the right moment. “I’m sorry?” I asked.

Luna was silent for a moment, mentally forcing herself to say the next line the way she wanted to, “I would like to become a member of the Black Knights.”

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Pointé Restaurant,

Liberte Pier, Jersey City New Jersey

October 31st, 2040, 8:13pm

Blake Bradley transmitting

Mercury’s Memorial dinner

In normal situations big questions and demands are usually solved on the spot with the commanding officer or person in charge. One would think that would be the same thing that goes on in the Black Knights. Surprisingly no, teams are formed or dissolved all by the command of the leader. The District Commander has little say on what or who goes into a team, unless a crisis calls for his intervention. Members aren’t recruited willy-nilly though. While the guidelines aren’t exactly specific, Knights generally look for qualities within an individual that fit within the four mantras of the Order. A choice we do not make easily.

This was why I was extremely hesitant on saying yes or no to Luna’s admission right away. She understood, only rarely. Because of this, I had to bring her to Pointé for Mercury’s farewell dinner. These usually aren’t big occasions, only the members of the field team usually attend. It isn’t because of inter team animosity, more as is that field members share a deeper connection with each other rather than with the team as a whole.

Black team was no exception, though Ovatio and Deseret were with us at the table because of their own relationship with Mercury, with our one teams political Advisor Sisko waiting us. So it was the six of us, sitting there at a wraparound booth tucked away in a lonely corner with no view of the Manhattan Skyline. That’s how we liked it mostly. When you see something enough, even something like the mighty skyline, it becomes boring.

Pointé was a local seafood restaurant on the Liberte Pier, and a frequent spot for the Order of the Black Knights. In fact many of the GHQ and New Jersey members work at the restaurant, hence Sisko waiting on us. The place would get my recommendation if any of you so wish to dine there one night. Further still the owners knew us and never really asked questions so long as we kept bringing in business.

Luna sat in the one chair we had brought and sat across from me, by her choice not any of our own. The mood at the table wasn’t fully somber as we all had good memories of Mercury, but there was an elephant in the room. Soon enough however, as we were working through our appetizers, that elephant became too blatant to ignore. “So what made you decide you wanted to join?” I asked, “And so suddenly considering that you still no nothing about yourself.”

Luna looked at me, sincerity written plainly in her eyes, “We understand our complications, but we also understand that the answers we see lie within The Union. And tis as you have said Andrew; we cannot simply stand by knowing a life has been taken and not do anything about it.”

“Interesting turn of a phrase,” Ovatio whispered.

“This isn’t a game Luna,” I said keeping my voice stoic and cynical.

“We understand that, but we cannot allow us to stand on the side while others solve mysteries we were meant for!” Luna answered, her voice very concerned with hints of determination. All the while none of the Black Team members present at the table broke face.

At that point, I had no clue if anyone wanted her to join the Black Knights, for very good reason. “Well if you do join, let me tell you this: it’s a tough world out there.” I said then pointed to the skyline behind me, “That city back there is completely unforgiving. We Assassins are an expandable commodity, no matter how good our skills are we are expendable. If you die out there, another will simply come in and take your place. I really want you to consider the position you’re in.”

“We do understand. It is what we want to do.” Luna said.

I knew this was going to have to come down to me. Ironically this was the one time in my recruiting days where I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of allowing her to join. I needed advice, but asking the others in front of Luna was going to be pretty awkward. Fortunately Luna provided the means of exit.

Her face went sour for a moment, then she said, “Excuse us, we have to use the…” she stuttered on the final word, trying to find a way to get it out.

Deseret did it for her, “Bathroom?”

Luna blushed as she nodded.

“Yea I gotta go too, come on.” She said and then escorted Luna to the bathroom.

After the duo was out of earshot, Lsyric chimed, “Well at least she’s house broken.”

Both Jezebel and I glared at Lsyric while Ovatio did nothing. Then after a moment of silence, Ovatio looked at me, “If sincerity counts as a measure to which we recruit people, I’d put her top on the list.”

“Yea she is very determined to join. I mean I kind of agree with her, I would not be too happy if I had to sit on the side and let others figure out who I was.” Jezebel agreed.

“But that’s the thing; we don’t know who she is. I mean that chick could be any one. Plus she can use a hyper form of magic according to Blake; wouldn’t it be better to wait?” Lsyric countered.

“This is her story thought, we do have to take into account that we may merely be side characters and she is the one who follows the plot line.” Jezebel said.

“I’m not still sold on it.” I murmured, “Lsyric’s right there are too many unknowns, but Jezebel’s also right in that this may be the best way to find out who she is.”

“Well if you want my opinion,” Sisko said brining us our food. He had heard everything, “Who are we to deny someone their right to join. Do remember the wash out rate Andrew, if it isn’t meant to be for her it isn’t meant for her.”

That was the selling point for me. After Sisko dished out all of the food, I looked at him “Sisko you got a pen and paper?”

“Can I have a please with that?” he commented. I didn’t give him the dignity of an answer. Undignified, Sisko pulled out a piece of paper and a pen before handing both to me.

On the paper I drew the Order’s symbol on the paper and handed the pen back to Sisko. Sure enough no less than a minute later, Luna and Deseret returned. The duo must have had a similar conversation that we had previously and Deseret had come to a similar conclusion. I could tell this by the look in her eyes, so that fully reassured my decision. Luna looked first at the food on the table, then at me with an unsure smile.

But before any of us could dig in, I slid the paper over to Luna.

“This symbol,” she said looking at the paper, “We have seen this before. Tis the symbol of the knights is it now?”

“It is,” I answered, “Notice how there are four parts of it. Each of the four parts directs to the four rules of the Order of the Black Knights. Rule number one; ‘Do not work for fame or for fortune. You glory must gained through actions in darkness rather than light.’ Rule number two; “Be Silent with your blade. Stealth and secrecy are your primary weapons; a true assassin must always be hidden.’

“Rule number three; ‘Protect the innocent. They are not your enemy; they shall not be treated as such.’ And the most important Rule, Rule Number Four, “Keep your identity hidden. You must remain anonymous, not only for your protection, but for the protection of those you love.’ These are the rules that we Black Knights live, breath, kill, and die by. If you wish to join us, you must swear upon these rules.” I told her. All the while I spoke, Luna listened in awe and watching. She didn’t move she didn’t speak.

I noticed this and continued, “While these four are guiding principles in which we are based and operate, there is one absolute rule that all guides all Assassins. That rule is…” I started.

Now one note, I mentioned earlier that this is a spot frequent to Black Knight members. It’s not uncommon to have up to five teams of agents in Pointé at any given moment. And all of them were listening in on the conversation, whether to pick up recruiting tips or whom had a vested interested in Black Team’s possible newest recruit. Knowing that as you do now, let’s continue.

In one instant, the entire restaurant went quiet, about two thirds of the members looked in are direction, and in perfect unison with myself they all said, “Nothing is True, Everything is permitted.”

The place was silent for another several moments before the rest of the restaurant got back to its own business. It was then I spoke again, “Now Luna, if you want to join us, you are going to have to swear that you’ll uphold our principles and our laws. Do you swear this?”

“We….” Luna started almost immediately.

“Ah,” I interrupted, “Not we, I.”

Luna looked extremely nervous and trying to change her speech pattern. As evident when she first asked to join, trying to say I was a challenge for her. However I figured that she was going to be here for a while, so that being the case I knew she had to adapt. And that meant having her talk the right way. After a few moments of trying, Luna finally forced herself to say it, “I swear it.”

Nodding, I looked around the table. Despite their faces not showing it, I knew the team was with me on this decision. “Okay now before we get to anything, let’s eat in because our food’s getting cold.”

The rest of the team nodded and we began to eat. Not before preforming a toast to our fallen friend.

Later on that night, I got back to the base long after everyone else. Deseret had held Luna back so that she could inform Marcus of her possible admission. This wasn’t because Marcus wanted to know, it was so that I could clear out the rest room so that I could talk with Luna privately. After a brief and albeit pointless conversation, Deseret went upstairs first and passed me in the relax room.

About a minute later Luna passed and instantly noticed me, “Andrew what are you doing here alone?”

“Waiting for you, come sit.” I told her.

Nervously Luna walked in and sat at the table I was sitting at. I looked at her with dagger eyes, not meant to look down upon her but more to make her totally uncomfortable. It worked, “What thou wish to discuss, we thought…”

“You assumed wrong,” I snapped, “You may have fooled the rest of the team with your sincerity but I’m not entirely sold on you joining the team.”

“What more must we do to prove it to thee?” she asked.

“How bought give me a straight answer. And none of this we crap. Who are these we? I only see one person sitting in that chair and that one person is you. So I better hear you refer to yourself as an individual rather than a collective drone.” I told her, “Now look at this from my position, you appear out of nowhere with no memory, no identity, and nothing to signify where you’re from save for two Tattoos. And you want to join us almost immediately without even figuring out who you are?

“Let’s look at this with some sense, you could be very sincere with your reasoning behind this, or you could be a Union crafted agent sent to destroy us from the inside out. Now I wouldn’t be a good Second in command nor a good team leader if I didn’t have reservations about letting someone like you in without a full scale background check.” I told her, doing a pretty good job of keeping my voice level yet disheartening to the poor girl. “I’m not saying no, but I need more information.”

Luna looked at me, as if she was fighting back tears and the urge to scream at me for calling her out. Worse still she was taking several big gulps of air and saliva. Finally after trying to put the right words together, she spoke. “It’s…something that…I…have to do! I…can’t explain it but it’s…there’s something within us…me…that is driving me to find out who…I am.” Luna explained, her voice filled with somberness and determination. All the while she never broke eye contact, “I…need to know what it is. What my…talent is. Once we do, we’ll remember who I am, and maybe my talent and my answers will come from being with you guys. This isn’t something we…I… can find out sitting on the side lines.”

I kept my face stoic, but inside I could clearly understand her point. It was almost as if she was telling me her rights and reason to live. That monologue and that monologue alone convinced me beyond any shadow of a doubt that Luna really and truly wanted to be a member of the Order.

“So please,” she whimpered, “Please reconsider.”

I nodded then rose to my feet, “Tomorrow, eight am sharp, the training room. A minute late and I will not be there.” Before I could hear or see Luna react, I left the rest room and went to bed.

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

OBK GHQ/New York/New Jersey District HQ

The Former Sims Metal Management site, New Jersey

November 1st, 2040, 6:45 am.

Blake Bradley Transmitting

I woke up pretty early the following morning, for two reasons really. The first was because I wanted to get the combat ring ready for Luna’s first round of training. The second reason was I was hoping that Samantha and/or Deseret had made any headway on Luna’s history. Luna was still fast asleep though I figured she wouldn’t be for long.

Heading down stairs and to the mission section, I could see Marcus overlooking the computers where Deseret and Sam were placed. I didn’t know if the trio had gotten any sleep the night before. But judging by how active they actually were, it was a safe bet they sleep was something they hadn’t achieved.

“Jesus don’t you guys ever sleep?” I asked walking up.

“Deseret and he did,” Sam answered, “But yours truly did not.”

“Well I hate to ask what kept you up but I will anyway.” I commented as I walked in.

“We’ve been scouring the gaming central trying to find anything about Luna.” Samantha answered.

“We got a lead on a ‘Princess Luna’ of the District planet called Equestria. But any information regarding the topic is heavily classified.” Deseret told me.

“What, by whom. The Red Forces would never classify a planet unless of vital importance, and there’s only four that are known to reach that level.” I explained. Given my position and lineage, I’m very familiar with the Empire. But you’ll find out why some other time.

“It’s not the Red Forces that classified Equestria and its information about it. The classified tag comes from the IGC.” Marcus told me.

“What really?” I asked to which Marcus nodded. This was shocking; the IGC never withholds any information regardless of external or internal circumstances. That planet must’ve had some vital importance that would keep all information classified. And that brief was only about to get worse for poor Luna.

“Worse still, Samantha may be the best hacker who ever lived but the IGC classified level is ten. Getting around that without anyone noticing is going to take a long time.” Deseret explained.

Externally I was the description of calm and content, inside I was screaming at the IGC. It was bad enough having to train Luna without knowing a thing about her background, but now having that information being delayed for months was worse. “Looks like the only way we’re going to get any information, we’re going to have to get it through the Union.” I said.

“We do have one advantage though, The Union believes that Luna’s dead instead of Mercury.” Marcus told me.

That was one good moment right there. If there would ever be one thing we Black Knights had a knack for it was hiding our dead from the world. “Well they’re gonna be in for a real shock when they see her again.” I sighed.

“You almost seemed sure that she’s going to pass Blake.” Marcus commented eyeing me.

“Oh I’m not sure, I know she’ll pass. Girl has that type of determination, and with a little extra push she’ll be one of the best right out of the gates.” I told Marcus, my voice dripping with ego.

“Well don’t go easy on her Blake.” Marcus told me.

“I don’t intend too.” I replied.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

November 1st, 2040, 7:59am

After that early morning briefing, I went to the training area to prep it. After completing that task, I headed over to the equipment room to get some training swords and hidden blades. When I got back, it was one minute to eight and time for Luna to arrive. Sure enough when I got to the training area, there she was sitting in the middle of the ring samurai style wearing Jezebel’s spare white shirt and white sweat pants.

Before I get to the reason for the color coating, let me address our training ring. Besides our Parkour section and weight room, we also have a combat ring used for hand to hand training. It’s an almost perfect circle though its interior dimensions are nearly similar to the octagon of Ultimate Fighter. The only breaks in the circle are the five four foot high poles that are placed around the ring.

Luna sat in the middle of the ring, her head down and eyes closed in deep meditation. From that action, I guess she had asked Jezebel for some pre-training advice.

“Well I’ll be, one minute early.” I said walking up, “I’m impressed.”

“Actually that statement should be ten minutes early,” Luna responded not looking up, “For we’ve been here in that time meditating.”

“Not a bad option to have.” I said putting down some of the equipment outside the ring. Once that was complete I picked up a wooden training sword and stepped over the two foot high barrier and entered the ring. “By the way, we discovered that the information regarding your origins has been classified by the International Gaming Community. We can get to it, but doing that and not alerting our IGC friends is going to take a few months maybe more. Your best bet of gaining any information is to beat it out of the Union. Are you still sure you want to do this? Last chance to back out.”

Luna looked up at me. Her face was stoic but I could see fire burn within her eyes, “I do.”

“Prefect,” I grinned, “Stand up recruit.”

The only time you will see a Black Knight wear anything other than Black is during his or her Recruit days. Newbies are always dressed in ice white clothing top to bottom. It symbolizes the purity and innocence that all new time killers have before their white is washed away with the dark blackness of their deeds. Recruits do not change their colors until their first mission, where he or she is given a navy blue jacket and the Recruit is now called Virgin. Once the Virgin kills his or her first target, they are given the Black Jacket and/or hoodie sweater signifying their arrival to Knighthood.

As ordered, Luna rose to her feet and I handed her a training blade. As Luna inspected the blade, I went back to the edge and picked up my own. “Welcome to day one of training, and also welcome to the ring of blood. Rules here are simple, last one standing wins. If an opponent is knocked to the ground he, or in your case she, must touch the top of one of these pillars to still be in the fight. If you are unable to touch a pillar you lose, if you get up and don’t touch you forfeit deal?” I said walking back to her.

Luna nodded, “Doesn’t seem too hard.”

“Oh really?” I commented, “Defend yourself!” Quick as a flash I jabbed at Luna’s left forearm. This act forced her to let go of the sword. But before she could even react, I tucked and rolled behind her. Swinging the sword, I struck her lower back with the wooden blade. The hit wasn’t hard, just enough to knock her off her balance. It worked and Luna landed flat on her face groaning and holding her back. I rose to my feet and walked over to her head. “You lack defense, poise to stand upon. Arm strength to support your blade and the striking blade of an enemy. We will start your training there. Now stand up Recruit!”

Begrudgingly Luna got to her feet, pressed a pole, and looked at me, “Where must I begin, mentor.”

“Well first off, figure out which hand you’re going to use as a striking hand. So which had do you write with?” I asked.

Luna looked confused for a second, then noticed the blade was clenched in her left hand and said, “Left handed.”

“Okay, I’m a natural righty, so whatever stance I take, you preform the opposite understand.” I told her.

She nodded and attempted to take a good stance. Once again I broke through it with easy and knocked her to the floor. As she stammered to touch a pole, I said, “We’ve got a long way to go Recruit.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

November 1st, 2040, 12:43 am

By Mid-day I managed to get Luna’s feet and hands working in the same order to properly hold and wield a blade. Now it was time for blocking. “Now recruit you know how to hold that weapon. You still do not know how to use it though. So before I teach you how to strike, I will teach you to block. Defend yourself!”

I went at Luna. To my surprise, the girl was a fast learner. She managed to block a few of my attacks pretty well. Others weren’t so clean of a block, such as when I swung around and came at her from behind. Where a normal Knight would block the attack before coming around, she came around first and landed in an awkward blocking position. This allowed me to push her to the ground when the blades met.

Luna stumbled to her feet, pressed a pole, and raised her blade ready for me to attack again. “Come at us, we are ready for another volley.” She said sternly.

“Maybe,” I told her, “But eventually you won’t be. You cannot block forever. So there comes the option of dodging. If you realize that you cannot block, simply dodge.”

“Dodge mentor?” she asked.

“Yes Dodge, get out of the way.” I explained. “Now Dodge or defend yourself!” I charge Luna again. She managed to block my first and second strikes. Finally I could feel her weakening and I thought that it would be over fast. But then with my next swing, she ducked out of the way just in time.

She finally figured out what dodge meant. She wasn’t perfect as a few times she ducked right into the blade or tripped over her own feet. By late afternoon, her energy was completely spent and she flopped on the floor not getting back up.

I placed a towel around her shoulders as she rose to a sitting position and offered her a bottle of water. She graciously accepted.

“Not bad for a first day, not great but not entirely bad. Now go rest up and see Deseret back here within twenty minutes for your first history lesson. Tomorrow meet back here eight sharp and we’ll do this all over again.” I told her.

“How many times must we do this?” Luna asked groggily.

“Until you get it right without any mistakes,” I told her and walked out.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

November 6th, 2040, 4:30pm.

Luna was a very quick learner. By the fourth day of our training, she had managed impeccable skill with the wooden sword. Even better was that her hand to hand skills came even quicker. So by November 6th, she expected on the hidden blade part of the combat tests. What came instead was a completely different lesson; a lesson in balance and poise from Jezebel.

Jezebel taped out a straight line from where Luna was standing to the other side of the weight room. “So you think that you are ready for the hidden blades?” she asked Luna.

“I have passed all of the combat…” Luna began.

“Yes I am aware of all of that. But fighting with the sword and fighting with the hidden blade is much different. An assassin must first have balance and poise in order to operate fluently with her blade.” Jezebel explained, “But if you do not have that…” She promptly lightly pushed Luna, who backed up her point by stumbling several feet to the left. Her point proven, Jezebel added, “You fall all over yourself.”

Luna, having seen the point, repositioned herself at the tip of the tape line, “So you expect me to walk the line.”

“Yes I do,” Jezebel said, “While balancing this book on your head.” Jezebel placed a hard cover book on Luna’s head. Once she got it properly balanced, Jezebel took a step back. “Now walk the line.”

Luna attempted to nod but thought better of it. She simply said, “O-Okay.” Then she took her first ginger step. And the book promptly fell off. Granted this task wasn’t an easy trick to pull off first round so none of us were upset. Where am I you ask, I’m standing off to the side near the stairwell watching this.

Jezebel picked up the book, “As I said, balance and poise is crucial to how an Assassin operates. You must be so aligned and straight in your posture that I can draw a perfectly straight line from your forehead to your vagina. Now,” she replaced the book back on Luna’s head, “Balance the book on your head.”

Luna took another first step, the book fell.

“Try again,” Jezebel said replacing the book.

Another first step and the book fell.

Jezebel picked up the book and said, “Try again.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

November 16th, 2040, 11:47 am

Training Luna Jezebel’s way took a lot longer than anyone felt, a full ten days’ worth of time. However each day she would gain another step in her attempt to balance the book. Finally Luna got her posture so firm that the book didn’t fall off even when she and I practiced sword fighting. It was a good progress, even more so that it bolstered Luna’s confidence.

She was growing more and more every day, though none of the Black Team members would admit it to her. It was the way of Black Knight mentoring, not to show admiration on a Recruit unless he or she passed a course with flying colors. That meant not making any mistakes. While we never yelled or belittled our student, we never directly encouraged them either. In the words of my mentor, the late Hannibal Suit of Iraq, “Encouragement must come from the pride a student gets upon gaining this knowledge.”

Luna however was more or less grateful for everything we were doing. She would snip and snap at us, to which we would respond in kind, but at the end of each lesson she would always smile and thank us for teaching her something new.

That gratitude showed it’s mark when it came time to teach Luna how to work her magic. Since none of us on Black Team were even remotely capable of handling Magic. Lsyric was the closest as he did have some dealings with witches during his Texan years, but still not enough. So we brought in our expert: Jane Burke, or as we knew her as, Glinda. “Okay Luna, now carefully this time, I want you to levitate the cup.” Glinda told Luna.

Sitting before the recruit was a china tea cup, filled with hot water. The ceiling above the cup was dripping wet and pieces of broken china were sticking out of it. This was a testament to Luna’s first attempt at levitation. Because of this both Lsyric and I had taken several steps into the halls of the dorm area as to not be hit by any runaway china. Luna steeled herself for the task and reached out with her hand. A bluish aura engulfed the cup.

“Now, just try to relax dear, let’s not over do it.” Glinda soothed.

Luna took deep breaths in and out to calm her nerves. Pretty soon the cup lifted smoothly off the table and floating in front Luna’s hand totally depended on her whims. Luna smiled at her accomplishment, and so did Glinda. Now came the tough part, “Okay Luna, now just the water.”

“Okay Miss Glinda,” Luna said. She closed her eyes and focused. Then the cup floated down to the table empty of its water. The water was floating where the cup was previously. Luna was ecstatic and gently placed the water back into the cup, “I did it! I did it!”

“Wonderful Luna simply wonderful.” Glinda cheered.

Lsyric and I were impressed, but we didn’t show it. I even sold the hiding by walking up to Luna with a sarcastic smile on my face, “Don’t get cocky, all you did was simply move water.”

Luna, not believing a word of my sarcasm, looked back at me, “That was not an easy task to execute.”

I proved my point my flicking the china causing a ripple, “If you really want to impress me, turn it into wine.”

Luna giggled knowing I was in fact proud of her.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

November 20th, 2040, 9:14pm.

After a good hardy dinner, I sat Luna down in the rest room with a folder. Usually this time would be dedicated for Recruit study, but I felt to push a few things ahead. Luna was already becoming skilled in Parkour what with the balance and poise training, her magic was coming along greatly, and better yet she was becoming a great fighter. All the while becoming a very nice and well-rounded individual. She learned how to tell jokes both dirty and clean, hung out with the teams on break, and even was a natural at the PlayStation and Xbox.

Her social skills were also coming together nicely, and I think she was becoming a natural twenty three year old girl. Luna was a good learner and a very good reader. I would almost say she has a photographic memory. But she had lagged a bit on her historical history. Historical training was done in private study, as was math and other education courses. What with the crap on television these days and so little good console games left, kids of the world were actually reverting to private study and learning much like the era before Technology.

So I decided to give her a little help with the learning of the Order’s history. “Okay so by now you of not only world history, but of the history of the Emerson Reality and all its fascinating details. You also know of the rise of the Red Forces, the formation IGC, and the Union’s appearance on the grand stage. Now it’s time for you to learn about the Order.” I said and pulled out my first sheet of paper. It was an advertisement for the game Lineage. “Lineage, launched in 2033, was the first game where players could create avatars that could be both born and die. Players would live in certain eras of their choosing though out world history, carving out their own lives that would affect the world in a linear history. Most of the players decided to follow the true Historical path, as making the history you read about is more important than creating your own. Because of this, Lineage was seen by many Emerson Veterans as a way to retire.

“Blaze Johnson, the founder and first leader of the Red Forces, went to Lineage for this reason. As you know, Blaze is an extremely famous member of the virtual realm. So when he went to Lineage, he chose Colonial, Pre-revolution America as his era and took the name Thomas Kincaid.” I taught showing her different pictures relevant to the lesson. One was a picture of Blaze Johnson, but instead of the young leader every text book printed, this one was of an early forties Gentlemen passed his prime. Well not really passed his prime, dad may be old in age but he isn’t in physical strength.

Oh did I forget to mention Blaze Johnson is my father. Yep Blaze Johnson, aka Mike Pinto, is my father. Sorry, probably should’ve mentioned it earlier, but it didn’t really matter so no big problem.

Anyway Luna watched and took in the lesson with awe. She didn’t speak as I continued, “However the Union saw Lineage as another means to expand their influence, and backed the British during the buildup to the Revolution. Thomas found out about this and began a one man war against both the British and the Union under the guise of Blackheart.” I explained and showed her a picture of Blackheart. The painting showed a hooded, black robed man with a black blade leaping from one rooftop to the next. “Thomas originally wanted his work to be a solo job. But the crisis and Union involvement became too great for him. So he picked up a few followers. After the war, he hoped they disband, but they didn’t. Blackheart’s followers reorganized themselves into the Brotherhood of the Black Knights, charged with defending the freedoms of man. After the American Civil War, the name was changed to Order.” I taught.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

November 21st, 2040. 12:12pm.

With Luna progressing as fast as she did, it was time to show her the tools of the trade. I called upon Ovatio and Q to perform this task. Q, Black Teams other quartermaster, talked at length upon how the gloves, Bluetooth mikes, and sunglass cameras called spec-ops lenses worked. Ovatio talked about the hidden blades as well as the grapple system. He also mentioned the cardinal rule with the grapple system; it cannot be used in succession, it is better to land then change than fall to your grave.

The Q conversed at length about the sensor grip within our hand guns before turning to the bullet/fire retardant outerwear we Knights carry. Truth be told I was half asleep during this part, so I’ll spare you the boring conversation.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

November 29th 2040, 4:15pm

Luna leapt from girder to girder, crate to crate, beam to beam over our Parkour course. With her hidden blades drawn only when needed, she pounced upon the straw dummies with cat like precision.

Her white clothes fluttering as she moved, the Recruit didn’t stay in one place for more than a second before moving on another target. She performed ledge kills, dragging the dummies over the side. Snuck up behind another and cut its straw throat. From a corner she jumped on a target and broke its neck. All the while I was on the ground watching her with a stop watch recording her time. Field record was fifty five seconds; she was at fifty with on target to go.

Luna ran towards a ledge and leapt off into a beautiful swan dive. Then her fall changed as she attempted to raise her arm back and perform an air assassination. She hit the target all right, digging the knife in, but toppled over the fallen dummy and landed on her back. Clicking the stop watch, I saw she was at fifty eight seconds.

“Well besides that fall, which will cost you the mission and thirty points, that all brings your mission time to three minutes ninety one seconds counting the clearing the dorms.” I said stoically, “You could do so much better.”

Luna got to her feet and brushed herself off, “It’s that last target that keeps fucking me up. I just can’t kill it.”

Luna had just made her first mistake in training; she said the one word that got my blood boiling. “Excuse me,” I said, “What was that?”

“I can’t do it; I simply cannot make that air assassin….”

“Can’t” I interrupted, “There is no such thing as I can’t Luna.”

“What are you talking about, I just said it!” she snapped.

“Oh so that makes it a real word? Just like you can’t walk, you can’t talk, you can’t use magic, like you can’t wield a blade with the best of them, you can’t do any of that?” I shouted back, “You can do it Luna; you have the knowledge and the ability to do it. Never, ever say I can’t! Now get back up there recruit and try it again! And this time don’t swan dive, just drop!”

Luna looked hurt but I didn’t care. She also knew she couldn’t snap back at me. So the Recruit bit the bullet and went back up to the dorm room. Two minutes later she was back at it, repeating all the same tricks before. But this time instead of swan diving, Luna simply jumped down towards the target. This time she found good footing as she dug her blade into the victim. Better yet she had broken the record by one second.

It was then that I showed my pride towards her and smiled. “Good work Luna,” I said.

Almost on the verge of tears of joy at her accomplishment, Luna looked at me and bowed saying, “Thank you Mentor.”

With a proud smirk on my face I said, “You’re ready for your first mission.”

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Chrysler Building, Midtown Manhattan, New York City

New York USA

December 1st, 2040, 9:14pm

Luna Transmitting

Target: Kill Blue Sparkler.

Noise, that’s the best word I would use to describe this place. This city I have been in is noisy. I don’t know why people can stand all this noise, the brightness of these lights, and the fact that this city never seems to sleep. Andrew was right when he said that City life was not for everyone. In fact, I wasn’t sure it was for me. While it may be noisy, crowded, ever moving, and unforgiving, this place was filled with so many wonders that I could not even begin to full imagine.

It was also the only life I had ever known up until that point. All I knew about myself was my name, Luna. Other than that, my past was a mystery. One I was determined to find out. That was why I joined the Order. There was something within me that told me I would find my past through them. It seemed I had yet to be wrong; Andrew, Jezebel, Lsyric, and others were all so helpful in my training. For everyone one course on the body, there were two on the mind. Each were extremely difficult at first. Though I trained harder and harder, without their guidance I never would’ve lasted.

It was thanks to my training that I discovered many wonders about myself as well. I could use magic, and apparently an advanced form of magic. I could levitate objects, transport myself from one place to another, and even create magical wings to help me fly over short distances. But my most greatest trick was my ability to enter people’s dreams. However, I felt it was an impersonal trick so I rarely used it. The rest of my magic tricks would help me in my future endeavors

Now I was off on my first mission. My pulse raced and I never felt my heart race faster. Two days ago, Andrew had promoted me from the rank of Recruit to Virgin. Now this was my first mission and would pop my killing cherry. I stood upon one of Chrysler Building’s gargoyles high above the city, meditating. Both Andrew and Jezebel told me that permission meditation was a great way to calm my nerves and prepare me for the mission ahead.

To my amazement, it wasn’t working all that well. However Andrew also mentioned that I would never rid myself of doubt or worry, so I should never try. Maybe that’s what was still making me nervous, doubt and worry if I would succeed and survive my first time. I continued to meditate for a few more minutes until I was confident enough. When I was, I rose to my feet and walked onto the gargoyle’s head. When I was comfortably perched, I pressed my Bluetooth earpiece, “This is Virgin ready to begin operation.”

“Roger that Virgin, target has been located near Central Park. Report to that area and neutralize the Union officer.” Samantha informed me.

“Roger, Virgin out.” I answered raising my hood. If I was going to be happy about anything after this, it was that I would no longer be called Recruit or Virgin. I took a deep breath and focused on my magic. Out of my back drew two large wings, their color matching my hair. Once they were fully erect, I simply let myself fall off the gargoyle.

The sensation of forward motion was my indication that I was flying. I soared over the city in a northern direction, already with a clear visual of Central Park already. After gliding for a good distance up Lexington Avenue, I landed atop a building on East Forty Fifth Street and began running East atop the roof tops. I may not be a master at Parkour like Andrew, but I’m getting better and I’m able to jump from roof top to roof top without incident. I didn’t stop until I hit Fifth Avenue, it was then I turned North on a direct route to Central Park.

Whatever gap wasn’t jumpable; I simply deployed my wings and glided across. It was an easy run north, all the while my only focus was successfully managing my way across the rooftops of Manhattan while remaining unseen. My head was still ringing of Andrew’s tips and rules on how to be a successful Black Knight, many of those tips I didn’t know if I’d ever get the opportunity to use.

Before I reached the park, I did a quick survey to check to see how many people were in the park. Another magic trick I found out I could use, Andrew called it Eagle Vision. But it wasn’t anything like that at all; at least it had nothing to do with my eyesight being as sharp as an eagle. I closed then reopened my eyes, instantly my vision zoomed into the park almost like I was looking through a pair of binoculars.

As I looked, I could see mostly homeless people either walking around the sidewalks or sleeping on the park benches. I couldn’t find my target at all. At least not anywhere near the streets. It was then I remember something Andrew told me; if I wasn’t sure, it was perfectly okay to ask for help from the base. I kinda felt embarrassed asking for help, but I also didn’t want to seem more like a fool by guessing.

“Base this is Virgin, what was the last confirmed sighting of the Target?” I asked.

“Good job Virgin,” I heard Andrew speak. He must have been listening in to make sure I did a good job. I actually heard pride in his voice, “Target was last seen on West 59th heading in a northwesterly direction towards The Pond.”

“Roger, Virgin out.” I said then turned my vision towards The Pond. Sure enough, there she was, sitting on a rock overlooking The Pond. Now I got a little nervous as the gravity of my mission hit me. But I took one of the deepest breaths I could ever imagine my lungs doing and took off towards my target. I had learned in training that landing right near your target was a very bad idea, as that would put me at risk to fall into whatever possible trap could be waiting for me. But I also learned that walking in from a distance might be a bad thing too. Approaching a target took finesse, Lsyric once told me, and that I had to keep my eyes sharp otherwise I might lose.

I landed gently in a tree about twenty meters from her. Slowly I looked around to see if any guards or escorts were nearby. Fortunately there were none. I lowered myself on to the ground level and approached my target. I was sure it was her, not only because I trusted base, there was something deeper within me that told me it was her. My feeling was confirmed when she slowly got to her feet and turned around.

“An Assassin,” She murmured, “I should’ve guessed they’d be so bold to send one after me.”

“Blue Sparkler I presume,” I said back to her.

Sparkler smirked, “Oh you presume right Knight, but I would never guess they’d send one as stupid as you.”

“Define stupid, last I checked it was just you and me?” I shot back. However I knew that it was going to become a false statement, except I couldn’t hear anyone approaching.

“That may be true, but to face me mono e mono, not one of their best moves.” She said. Before I could blink, Sparkler attacked me. From her sock she drew a tiny but still deadly dagger and aimed it straight for my chest. I dodged the first attack and swiped her with one of my blades, creating a gash within her sweater. She spun around and tried to hit me again, to which I again dodged and added with a stab into her side.

I felt the blood squirt onto my glove knowing I had gotten a good hit on her. As I pulled the blade out, I felt Sparkler try to hit me again. Again I dodged and kneed her in the stomach. Sparkler staggered away from me, but I knew she wouldn’t run. She clenched her wounded side and looked at me, “You’re good Knight, better than most I’ve faced. But I will not die today.”

Andrew would’ve answered that statement but I didn’t. I didn’t think it was proper to dignify that statement. I drew my blades and went at her again. She thought she surprised me by drawing a pistol she had tucked in her pants, but I simply rolled underneath the line of the shot. That put me in perfect position to finish the job. I shoved my hand into her chest between her two breasts, blade breaking her breast bone and dealing the fatal blow.

I felt Sparkler go limp on my shoulder, but I also heard her gasp in horror. “No,” she whimpered, “No, I don’t want to go yet. I don’t want to die now; I had so much to live for. I don’t want to go.”

“We rarely do when we have to.” I soothed rolling her off my shoulder and gently placing her on the ground. It was then I looked into her face. She was scared, scared of what was happening to her. And I brought that fear upon her. I killed her, and I made her face the greatest fear ever known. It was a sickening feeling and sight. But I had a job to finish. “Do not fear the blackness, for it will comfort you like the softest blanket. Rest in Peace.” I said closing her eyes.

Then I felt my heart become extremely heavy. I was almost about to cry. I couldn’t believe what I had just done. It almost didn’t feel right. But my training was screaming at me to keep it together and escape. I gave Sparkler one more moment of prayer and peace before I headed off towards the street and my escape.

The next day, after morning training and everything, I went straight back into my room. I sat at the head of my bed and rested my knees onto my chest. My heart and head were still spinning after last night. Worst still, Sparkler’s blood still felt like it was on my hand. I knew I wasn’t the only one with blood on my hands in the order, and I also knew that neither Sparker nor the Union were innocent victims.

But that didn’t make me feel any better. My dreams the night before all included her face and the horror of her facing death. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bury my guilt over what I had done. It was then I began to question why I had joined the Order in the first place. Andrew was right on all accounts, maybe I wasn’t ready.

My thoughts were broken up by a knock on my door. “Come in,” I said in a surprisingly even voice.

It was Andrew. He poked his head around my door and looked at me with a stoic face that badly hid proudness, “I came to tell you your incitation ceremony will be in about three hours. So until that time please don’t leave the dorm level.” Then he saw my uncertainty and entered. I could tell I didn’t need to explain to him what was getting at me at all, so I didn’t even try. “Your conscious bothering you?” he asked me.

I nodded.

“Let me ask, is it the fact that you have killed or is it the fact that you’ve seen someone die.” He asked.

I nodded, “Both, it’s not that I’m upset over a death. I just can’t come to grips with it.”

Andrew sat down at the foot of my bed and looked at me, “I understand completely. And I also know all the questions you’re going to ask me too. Truth is, this is not a joyous or easy field to be in Luna and most are not equipped for it.”

“But I wanted to join so badly,” I whimpered.

“I know you did, and I’m not kicking you out unless you want to leave. But I will give you this advice. Death is the scariest thing that a human will ever face, and taking a life is never something to cheer or condone. That is why you’ll never see a kill tally in any of the Order’s HQs.” He explained, “But we Assassins have a task. And that task is to kill killers. Believe me when I say, it’s easier to live with yourself when you take one life knowing you’ll save thousands more. I’m not saying you’ll be happy with yourself, but it’ll be easier to live with yourself.”

“But, she was scared.” I whispered.

“As she should be, which is it is our job to comfort and sooth them on their path to the beyond. I taught you those lines and to always say ‘Rest in Peace’ not because they’re a good catchphrase, I taught you those lines to help ease the dying to their deaths. It is our way of preserving our humanity.” He told me. Then he comforted me with his next line, “Besides, I’m sure the life they are heading to will be a much better one than this will ever be.”

“You think there is a life after this?” I asked.

“Yea I do think there is. Why do you think no one ever returns from death?” he answered with a smile. Then he got up and headed towards my door.

But I couldn’t let him go without one last question, “Do you…do you see your victims in your dreams?”

He stopped dead in his tracks but did not look back at me. “Don’t ever try to bury them Luna,” was all he said before walking out.

I didn’t understand what that had meant, but the tone of his voice told me he had. In an odd way I felt better. I knew I would never be totally happy, but I was surrounded by people would understand my sickness. And if the afterlife was anything Andrew had made it sound, I’m sure the life I would send my targets too would be a good place for them to go.

I looked out my window, which had a decent view of the Statue of Liberty. From what I had learned from history, good men had died trying to bring the world the freedom it had so rightly deserved by killing the bad guys who wish to deny it. Now we Black Knights were doing the same. Andrew’s line of “killing one to save thousands more,” was the most comforting thing about that whole advice statement. And I began to feel much better about my choice.

Exactly three hours later I was summoned to the main level for my initiation. On the projector was the Black Knight’s symbol, and in two perfect lines were the members of the New York, New Jersey, and General Headquarters. All had black jackets on with hoods up, even the ones who were not field agents. I stood near the far side of the room in between both lines.

On the other side of these lines under the projector was Andrew, Marcus, New York’s leader Erie, and New Jersey’s leader Boss Jovi. Only Marcus had his hood down. Andrew and Erie were standing next to a locker that held a black jacket, Andrew holding a hidden blade in his hands while Erie held a long rifle.

After a few moments of silence, I heard Marcus speak. “Nothing is true, everything is permitted. This is the line that acts as the mandate and rule for all Assassins throughout history, from the soldiers of Alamut to the agents of the Cold War. To say that nothing is true is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile, and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization. To say that everything is permitted, is to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and that we must live with their consequences, whether glorious or tragic.

“We Black Knights guide ourselves by this law as well as the four rules set by our founder Master Thomas Kincaid. Now we welcome another into our fold, another who wishes to work with us to restore the world to its greater good. Assassin, please step forward.” Marcus commanded.

I did as ordered, walking in between the two lines until I reached Marcus. He then motioned for Boss Jovi and Andrew to approach. The two of them helped me remove my navy blue jacket and Boss Jovi escorted it away from me. Andrew meanwhile walked back to the locker and picked the Black Jacket off its rack as well as pick up the hidden blade he was once carrying, when he did that he walked back to me. Erie also walked over to me with the rifle in hands. She turned the rifle so that is but would face me and handed it to me. I took the gun and rested the barrel on my left shoulder while I rested my right hand over the breach. It was the rifle that Thomas used in his vendetta against the Union, all GHQ Assassins swore their loyalty upon it.

All this was a carefully crafted choreography Andrew and Deseret taught me the day before my first mission. It was all a part of my initiation ceremony. I looked up into Marcus’s eyes while Andrew stood next to me with the jacket and the blade.

“Miss Luna,” Marcus asked, “Do you swear that you will not work for the light of fame and fortune?”

“I swear,” I answered.

“Do you swear that you will defend the innocent with all you might?” he asked again.

“I swear,” I answered.

“Do you swear that you will be silent with your blade, never entering the light that wishes to expose you?” Marcus asked.

“I swear,” I answered.

“And Miss Luna, do you swear that you will keep your identity hidden from the world?” Marcus asked one more time.

“I swear,” I answered, feeling pride swell within me.

Marcus nodded, “The Virgin has been taken, and it is time for us to welcome her with our shield.”

I handed Erie the gun, which brought it back to where it originally was. Andrew removed the jacket from its hooks and approached me, “Miss Luna, this is the Black jacket all Black Knights wear. It is our shield and our cloak. We offer this jacket to you now to welcome you into our order. Do you accept our gift?”

I nodded with a warm smile, “I do.”

Andrew then unbuttoned the jacket and handed to me. Once I had in my hands, I put the jacket on, buttoned it up, but kept my hood down. I knew it wasn’t time yet. Andrew then offered me a pair of hidden blades, “These were the Blades of your predecessor Mercury. It was his wish that if his life was ever taken that his blades be given to the next in line so that they may carry on his work. Do you wish to honor his wish and accept these blades, if you do not you will receive a new pair of your own and the next Virgin will be offered them?” Andrew asked.

“Would be my honor to accept the blades of Mercury.” I answered sticking out my arms. With a happy grin, Andrew fitted the blades upon my wrists. Once he had them on, I turned to my fellow knights and raised my arms within the air and deployed the blades. This was the sign of my indoctrination. Now all there was left was to have my callsign added.

Marcus asked, “Now what will we call you Miss Luna.”

I pondered the question for a bit before looking back at Marcus. I had one name that just felt right, “Nightmare, Nightmare Moon.”

Marcus nodded as I lowered my arms. He then approached me from behind and grabbed my hood. While he raised it, he spoke, “Then let us welcome our newest member, Assassin Nightmare Moon!”

A soft applause came from the crowd. A warm, accomplished, and somewhat arrogant smile adorned my face.

Chapter Nine [edit]

Chapter Nine

OBK GHQ/New York/New Jersey District HQ

The Former Sims Metal Management site, New Jersey

December 3rd, 2040, 6:55 am

Blake Bradley Transmitting

If there was ever one thing I hate about my heredity; it’s that when we male Pinto’s let our facial hair go unchecked it tends to grow thick and curl. When that happens, shaving becomes a necessary chore and a tedious operation. Why I chose to mention this into the story I will never know. Anyway I finished getting rid of two month old scruff, leaving behind a clean face. My dad was famous for his “Iron Clad Mustache” whiles my older brother rocked a “Hardcore Goatee.” Not I, clean shaven, spick and span were my personal style. No one was ever scared of a clean shaven individual.

After I had finished shaving, I exited my dorm room to grab a cup of coffee before my morning workout. Jezebel was already awake, sitting off in a corner praying. It was her usual routine, wake up, clean up, get dressed, and pray at least once towards Mecca before Workout. Because of that, she was always the first one up for Black Team, and that made her in charge of turning the coffee pot on.

“Praying for anything special today?” I asked her knowing I wouldn’t get an answer. And sure enough Jezebel didn’t respond to me. So I simply went about preparing a nice cup of coffee. About five minutes later Lsyric came by stretching his arms out, joined a moment later by our newest team member Luna.

After a very long night celebrating her arrival, I could tell the newbie was extremely unhappy that she had to get up at seven. So I decided to offer her a little vice, “Want some Coffee Nightmare?”

After scratching her hair line, Luna looked back at me, “What’s that?”

“One of New York’s methods of waking up on short notice,” I answered, “Try it.”

Luna cupped the mug with both hands and brought it to her lips. After blowing on it for just a second, she took a sip. It was a tender sip at first, but then she took another and I could tell she liked it. After a few more sips, I asked, “Would you like that cup I can always make myself another.”

Wordlessly Luna nodded and took the cup over to the table and began drinking. I shook my head with an amused smile and began pouring one of my own.

“While you’re at it,” Lsyric started.

“I know Lsyric I wouldn’t dare make a pot without considering you.” I laughed, “What do you want in it, usually cream and sugar?”

“You know me well Bradley.” Lsyric answered beginning his stretching routine.

“Is this what you normally use to wake you up after a nights rest?” Luna then asked.

“Not just us, about two thirds maybe even more use Coffee as a stimulant to wake up. Probably the only real means to do so as those damn energy drinks can kill you.” I answered, “Why are you enjoying the cup?”

Luna answered by taking another big gulp of her coffee and I knew right then I had made her an addict. I was just finished finally brewing my own cup when she finished guzzling down the one I had unintentionally made for her. Luna then looked up at me and probably with the cutest face I had ever seen a girl make, raised her cup asking, “Can I please have some more?”

“Least you asked nicely,” I answered, “Only condition is you come get it when it’s finished pouring okay?”

Luna nodded excitedly.

“Coffee lightweights….” Lsyric laughed.

“Hey I seem to remember a young Texan who could not stop bouncing around when he tried a brew of my Coffee.” Jezebel commented rising from her mat. In Lsyric’s defense, a cup of Jezebel’s coffee is equivalent of about five normal coffees, it’s that strong.

We all took a laugh.

* * *

December 3rd, 2040, 9:30 am

Nightmare Moon Transmitting

I Love Coffee, it is probably the greatest find I could ever make in this world. It amazes even me that I could forget something as incredible as that. Waking up at near seven at the morning was the hardest task I had yet received. My midnight escapade the night before and my initiation last night had left me exhausted. So getting up early was a terrible fate.

But thanks to coffee, I was able to break my grogginess and I was able to get myself fully ready for morning workout. That alone managed to get me fully energized for the rest of the day. After a long workout, I went back to my room to shower up. Much like a few other things within my rediscovery, showering was something I had to be taught. Thanks to Samantha, I learned all the tiny particulars that I’m too embarrassed to repeat.

One thing I can talk about is my hair. I figured out I was the only natural blue haired person within the world. It was a light blue in the shower, but after getting wet it went to dark navy. After a long hot shower to clean myself off, I got dressed and went to the relax room to wait for whatever my come. That didn’t take long.

Andrew came up around half hour after nine, “Ah Nightmare there you are. Marcus wants Black team to report in for a mission.”

“We are hunting a Unionite?” I asked.

“Not directly, it’s time for us to gather us a new ally.” Andrew answered.

“In what way,” I asked.

“Follow me and you’ll find out.” He answered with a smile.

So I followed Andrew down towards the mission area. Marcus and Deseret were there waiting for us when we arrived. “Ah good morning to both of you,” Marcus said as we approached.

“To you as well,” I replied with a smile.

Andrew simply nodded.

“Let’s get right down to business. We’ve been courting Don Michael Apollo for some time, now we have the ability to speak with him directly. Blake, Nightmare, we’d like the two of you to head to Midtown New York, more accurately to one of his restaurant’s Padre Familia. Once you get to him, convince the Don to support us.” Marcus explained.

“And do you expect us to perform this cleanly?” Andrew asked.

Marcus nodded as if it was obvious.

“Fabulous, call up Jacob,” I said without thinking.

“Belay that,” Andrew interrupted, “Time for you to learn our last little secret.”

* * *

PATH maintenance Tunnel #7

Black Knight’s secret connection tunnel

December 3rd, 2040, 11:00am.

Blake Bradley transmitting

“What is this?” Luna asked me as she descended the ladder into the tunnel.

“When the Port Authority built their subway tunnels, they had the bright idea of constructing these maintenance tunnels for workers to use so they didn’t have to worry about trains.” I explained to her, “Now the PA was going to build a subway line that ran from the World Trade Center to Liberte Pier. However they only got as far as building this before their funds got cut. Before they could demolish this tunnel, our friends in the Port Authority buried it under red tape, allowing our use; discreetly of course.”

“So this can take us right to Downtown?” Luna asked getting to the bottom of the ladder.

“Yep, right to the PATH station under Freedom Tower.” I answered.

Luna nodded, “And do we have free reign of the other maintenance tunnels?”

“Just as long as we don’t run into maintenance workers we’re fine.” I answered, “Now let’s get moving, we’re expected in Little Italy.”

And with that I began to lead the way as we walked through the maintenance tunnel. After about five minutes of good paced walking, we made it to the end of the tunnel. I directed Luna towards a latter, and then the two of us climbed up. We entered into the WTC PATH station virtually unnoticed.

Once we reached the street front, the two of us began moving on Vesey Street towards West Broadway. After just five minutes of walking, Luna asked, “Shouldn’t we have our hoods up, keep our faces hidden?”

“I appreciate your concern but there’s no real need too.” I answered.

“But wouldn’t they notice my hair color being a bit off than the rest of them.” Luna asked again.

I stopped and looked at her with a warm smile, “This is New York honey; weird shit like that is almost common.” As if to prove a point, a group of punk rock fans walked by us.

“I see what you mean.” Luna answered.

I nodded smugly then we began walking again. After another few minutes of walking, we reached Padre Familia. “Okay, remember what we’re here for. Try to avoid killing anyone.” I told Luna.

“Yes sir.” She responded.

Then we walked inside the restaurant. The head hostess came up to us, “Welcome to Padre Familia would you both like a table?”

“No we’re looking for someone, does the name Apollo mean anything to you?” I asked her.

She didn’t answer, but she motioned for us to follow her. Both Luna and I followed closely. We were lead into the back of the restaurant where a group of men were playing a poker game. As we were lead past them, I noticed Luna look at the men a little longer than she should. A quick jab to her arm snapped her out of it and she followed me closely.

We soon got to a booth near the far end of the bar. “Wait here,” the waitress said and vanished.

“Could you answer me a question?” Luna asked.

“What is it?” I nodded.

“What are we doing here?” Luna asked.

“Despite their setbacks, the Mafia controls much of the underground in and around New York City.” I told her, “Don Apollo alone controls a mafia family that holds influence in much of Downtown and Midtown. We get on the good side of him and his family; the easier it will be to gain information?”

“Why not use the police?” she asked.

“They’re too easily corruptible. The ironic thing about Mafia dogs is they’re harder to corrupt. Little ditty called “Loyalty to one’s family till death.” I told her.

Luna scoffed, “You can’t even trust the police in this place.”

“To be fair, we are the police.” I murmured but I don’t think she heard it.

Then the lady returned, “If you two will follow me please.”

I nodded and the two of us followed the lady as she led us to a staircase. She then motioned for us to climb them, to which I lead the way up. After reaching the top of the steps and following a short hallway, we reach a small door that took us into the Don’s office. Don Apollo, a short, stocky fellow that looked like he had once been a boxer, sat on the other side of a black desk flanked by two lieutenants with big guns. However the show of strength didn’t faze me in the slightest. Luna however did seem a little intimidated but she kept it under some control. Two chairs sat in front of the desk, one for me and one for Luna.

The Don looked at us with a smile, “Ah, the envoys of death. Please have a seat.”

We both nodded and took our seats. I eyed the Don with a stoic face while Luna kept her gaze focused on the lieutenants. “Don Apollo.” I said.

“Well since you already know who I am, I’ll spare my part of the introductions. However since we plan to do business, I would like to know who exactly you two are.” He said.

“Bradley,” I answered quickly, “And this is Nightmare.”

“Codenames,” Apollo hissed, “Never liked them personally but in this business we’re in Cest la Vie. Anyway I understand you guys are in need of my services.”

“Indeed,” I answered, “Your family controls most of the Downtown and Midtown Italian and Sicilian districts. But you’re also on good terms with your Chinese, Russian, and Purple compatriots in the areas. Any Union movement within these area’s and you’re sure to know about it, which is why your service would be invaluable to us.”

Don Apollo sat back into his seat pondering what I had just told him. It wasn’t a completely true statement, as there were other Families in New York that were more powerful that Apollo’s. Most of them would be willing to work with us as well, since we’ve done our fair share of favors. However the one kicker with him was his good relationship with the other crime mobs. While we didn’t need his service, it would be beneficial.

After a moment of thinking, Don looked back at the two of us. “What you ask of me is doable. I will admit if I sit back and let the Union take control I’ll be out of business. However since I’m going to be risking my own boys and girls to bring you this information, I have to ask for something in return.” He said.

“And that something would be?” I asked.

The Don was quiet for a moment before speaking, “Well we’ve been harassed for several weeks by a certain officer.”

“We don’t kill cops!” I snapped.

“Easy, this one’s as crooked as they come. He’s working for a rival family, the Gambino’s.” The Don told us.

“The Gambino’s?” Luna asked softly.

“Another rival Italian Mob family in this city, cept these guys are known for working with the Union.” I told her before looking back at the Don, “What do you need us to do?”

“If you want my family to work with you, you take out the cop. His name is Bernard Thompson; you’ll find him now somewhere between Park and 32nd street.” The Don told us.