Tears of the Phoenix.
Chapter one: Old Friends
The woman depressed a button on the hilt of her custom built knife and the knife powered up, the engraved phoenix on the blade glowed a brilliant orange as if it was on fire, she stabbed the knife into the man's stomach and he instantly immolated. Retrieving her other knife from the floor and sheathing it she took in her surroundings; it was the office of a high ranking alliance office, the pile of dust at her feet the only evidence that he ever existed, the room was sparsely furnished for its size, two chairs sat against one wall under a huge flay, it was the lion and eagle flag of the alliance, on the opposite wall was a map of the world, clearly showing the countries which the Alliance owned, and the countries that the Empire had taken, the solid oak desk was at the top end of the room, the huge window behind it watching over it, the desk had a computer and a name plaque on it. "Gen. Mark Henderson". The woman walked completely silently over to the computer to check it for useful information. But all of the files were encrypted and, regrettably, she didn't have time to break it, she could tell that much from the noise outside.
As hard as he tried Jasper just couldn't stay silent and he'd been spotted by a guard on patrol, the guard radioed for reinforcements and lunged at Jasper with his sword, but he had overextended his clumsy strike and Jasper had dodged to the side and brought his katana down hard on the man's extended torso, the blade cut straight through his entire body and chopped the man clean in two, blood started to pool around Jasper's booted feet
"Alice lets get the hell out of here now!" he shouted down the hall.
"Yes, sir!" The sarcastic reply came back through Jasper's ear piece just as the doors at the end of the corridor flew open and Alice came out, deactivating and sheathing her blade as she ran.
"Done?" asked Jasper.
"Done." replied Alice.
"Then lets go before this corridor fills with pissed off guardsmen, shall we?"
Alice looked quizzically at Jasper and he knew why, they both knew that between them they could easily take a corridor full of guards, but Jasper had been told by his master, the Daimyo of the mighty Volturi clan not to kill too many people as it was far more physiologically damaging that way.
"What the hell are you two doing in there? Will you stop killing things already and get your arses out here!" Emmett's voice came clearly over the comms earpieces' that all elite forces wore.
"Relax brother, we're coming." Jasper called back as he put a boot into the door and ran through it with Alice hot on his heels, they found themselves in a dark stairwell.
"Up?" asked Jasper.
"Up. Fast." replied Alice.
Angry voices came up from lower down on the stairs "Their up there, floor fire, more, now!" the voice came from an alliance officer, Sergeant Tyler Crowley, a hardened, gung-ho, war veteran with a specific hate for the Empire forces and all who supported their cause after his entire platoon was wiped out by an Empire hit squad at the beginning of the war. Alice and Jasper started to run up the steps, rearing matt black rope as they went.
The door to the stairwell flew open, narrowly missing a sentry posted on the roof, the two assassins ran to the edge of the roof, Alice's blade flashed as she passed the dazed sentry and he dropped to the floor clutching his slashed throat and gurgling cries for help. Jasper could see Emmett, his sworn brother, at the bottom of the seven storey building; he secured his rope to one of the many stone eagles lining the roof and started to abseil down to Emmett. Alice followed closely behind.
Emmett could see them coming down the side of the building they were nearly at the bottom when the door flew open and an alliance officer stepped out, closely followed by a dozen or so guards, all had blades drawn. The group stopped five metres form Emmett and the officer pointed his sword at him and said darkly "Crush that worm."
As the guards started to run at him Emmett shook his head and said to himself "Foolish man," Emmett drew the two ornate blades he kept on his back and met the enemy's charge with a flurry of blow that decapitated the first man, gutted the second and impaled a third on both blades.
A guardsman was about to strike at Emmett but he toppled over and lay on the floor convulsing, he could see the dart in the back of the man's neck; Emmett smiled at the arrival of Alice. Jasper had sent Alice to help Emmett; he was going after the officer. Jasper walked towards the officer, his katana drawn ready, and addressed the man "You, why do you stand and watch while your men die in front of you!"
The man turned to face the angry warrior "Actually, I was waiting for you." The officer smiled at Jasper and levelled his small officer's energy pistol at Jasper's head, but before the man could fire, Jasper had covered the remaining distance and clove the gun in two.
"Guess we do this the hold fashioned way." The officer shrugged as he threw what was left of his gun aside.
"Oh, wouldn't want you to fight with honour, scum!" Jasper spat back sarcastically and swung for the man's head but he quickly parried and struck an answering blow at Jasper's torso that he managed to avoid.
"Unfortunately for you, I can use a blade when it is called for." The man said as he feinted left.
Emmett's voice came over the comm. link "We're all done here; whenever you're ready we'll go Chief." Jasper could hear the transport bike's engine revving behind him, he put all of his effort into one last swing at the officer's neck, the man's head from his shoulders, Jasper laughed as art of the man's collar fluttered to the floor.
"You have guns, we have folded steel. Luckily for orders were minimal kills so, until we meet again, goodbye Sergeant Crowley." Jasper smiled darkly at the surprised man and ran through the blood and corpses that Emmett and Alice had left, he vaulted onto the back of the bike and Emmett gunned the engine, speeding out of the gates in a cloud of dust.
Emmett pulled up to the massive steel gates of the Empire castle, he took of his mouth guard and shout u to the gatekeeper. "Hey Charlie, let us in!" a head appeared over the edge of the battlements.
"Not without clearance!" the reply came back with mock formality and a small chuckle.
"How about this for clearance?" The new speaker was Alice, who then threw General Henderson's dog tags up to Charlie.
"Impressive, a General, I suppose that'll do!" Charlie disappeared back over the wall and shortly afterwards the gates swung open. Emmett pulled into the gatehouse and parked the bike, as the three of them got off of the walls; he tossed the dog tags back to Alice who caught them without looking.
"How are you doing Old Friends?" Charlie said as he slapped Emmett on the back and gripped Jasper's gauntleted hand.
"Speaking of old friends, we met one of your Charlie, Sergeant Crowley." Benny looked surprised as Jasper spoke, though he didn't look it the old man used to be an elite like Jasper and his team, he had met with Sergeant Crowley on several occasions all of which had resulted in little more than a stalemate, it was actually Crowley that gave Charlie his limp and in return Charlie gave him a nasty scar across his face.
"What happened?" Charlie asked worriedly.
"Calm down Charlie, why don't we go upstairs and I'll tell you over a strong drink." Jasper suggested.
Charlie smiled broadly "That sounds good."