The Order of the Black Knights

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.”