The Order of the Black Knights

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.