Keith Rowlandson The Terrorized City - Their Tale of Freedom October/ 17/ 11
It was in the darkness of the cold, dark alleys where every week the guild of assassins would meet in the city of Rome. Among them was one named Luigi. He was a young man that hated killing or harming people and believed it was unnecessary and bad in general. Luigi had been forced into the assassination business by his family and relatives. Luigi was about four and one-half feet tall, he had a moustache and beard, his hair was very dark, and he was a little overweight.
The weekly meeting was progressing slowly as the guild's fierce leader was reciting the rules and punishments of the guild. One of the rules that stood out to Luigi was that no member could refuse a job once it was given to them or the punishment was death. Their guild was very old and had been originally started by ancient ancestors as far back as 1200 AD and that was a very long time ago, especially considering the year was now 1980. All of the students of the guild had to wear white robes to the meetings and the leader would wear a black robe to show his leadership. All of these rules had been passed down through the ages to their generation in the guild.
The month was November and the city was getting colder as the days went on. After the very long speech, the guild's leader, who was named Ezio after his father and his father before that (all the way back to 1500 BC), prepared to hand out an assignment. Ezio was a tough-looking man who had many scars on his body from previous encounters. His voice sounded somewhat scary and there was a strange hiss in his voice that made him sound as terrifying as a venomous snake.
Ezio was about to assign jobs to the students of the guild and Luigi was so stressed out. He was hoping he would not get assigned a job this night. He was very relieved when Ezio called upon his brother Mario. Mario was Luigi's elder brother. He was shorter than Luigi and had a much bigger gut. Everyone believed it was probably from all the spaghetti and meatballs that Mario always ate. Luigi heard Mario, who was one of the more senior members of the guild say, "By your will master" in response to Ezio. Luigi guessed that his brother was favoring Ezio's wishes so he could graduate from the guild early.
The next day, Luigi woke up as usual and turned on the morning news. Breaking news was being broadcast on the TV. The announcer said, "Politician found dead with a bullet wound to his head and the search for the culprit is in progress." Luigi knew who had killed the politician because that was the target his brother had been assigned the night before. Luigi did not approve of the guild's actions because the guild members killed or imposed fear and terrorized the public so that they would get paid to release captives and not kill important government figures. Luigi thought about this and concluded that the politician must not have paid the guild his monthly bill and that was why he was hunted down like prey.
Later that same day, Mario ran over to Luigi's house and exclaimed that he knew who would receive a job tonight. Luigi was astonished to find out that it was him and asked Mario, "How do you know this?" in a confused and shaky voice.
Mario replied, "Because Master Ezio is going to be dead by tonight and, since I am the most senior member, that will put me in charge." Mario left before Luigi could say a thing. Luigi did not understand for he knew his brother was second most senior and if Master Ezio were to die, then the most senior member named Mark, who had come from America, would become the leader, not Mario. Luigi then realized his brother intended to kill them both. Luigi decided he must warn them of Mario's betrayal.
By the time Luigi had arrived at Mark's house, which was located near the Coliseum, he was extremely happy to see that Mark was unharmed. Mark enquired, "What brings you here brother Luigi?" he asked in his deep, scratchy voice. Luigi took a moment to look at Mark. He had never actually seen him before in the daylight. Mark only had one eye. The other eye was gone and he had an empty hole where his eye used to be. Other than that, Mark was well shaven and did not appear as muscular as their leader. Mark did look stronger than most of the other members of the guild, though. Luigi's thoughts were broken when he heard Mark's piercing voice yell, "Quit daydreaming and tell me why you are here!"
"It is Mario. He tells me Master Ezio will be dead by tonight", Luigi answered.
"Yes, he will be!" replied Mark. Luigi was shocked to have heard that. "What do you mean?" he asked Mark.
Mark then whispered back in a seething, hostile tone, "It was my idea and I got Mario to be my accomplice. Now here is the question, will you help us or will I have to kill you right here?" Mark scowled as he reached for his pistol.
Luigi barked, "Okay, I will help!"
Mark replied, "Do not speak a word of this to anyone or you will be the next dead body reported on the news". Then Mark re-holstered his weapon and said, "Get out of my house now!" Luigi nodded and backed away slowly.
The most menacing grin could be seen on Mark's face and then Mark stated, "After tonight, I will be leader of the guild!" He screamed this out in a deep foreboding tone. Luigi was torn between survival and retaining his loyalty to the guild. He finally decided that he had better do what Mark wanted or Mark might kill him as well.
The time that they had planned for had finally come. Mark went over the plan once more while they waited for Master Ezio to show up. Mario was going to distract Master Ezio while Luigi would flank around just in case Mark missed his target, but that would probably not happen since Mark almost never missed his target. Mark hoisted himself up on top of a building near their guild's meeting area. He was holding the sniper rifle and waited for the signal from Mario. By 12:00 midnight, Master Ezio had finally arrived. Mario gave the signal and began talking to Master Ezio so Luigi could sneak around. In case of a mistake, it was always good to have a backup plan Mark had told him earlier during the planning. Once Luigi was in place, he radioed Mark telling him he was in position. Mark peered through the scope with his good eye and aimed at Master Ezio's head. Just then, Luigi sneezed at the most vital moment. Master Ezio heard the sneeze and frantically turned his head toward Luigi. His movement was just enough to dodge Mark's bullet. Enraged, Master Ezio took out his own pistol and began firing in the general direction of the three and all three took cover. Luigi saw a clear shot and took it, but realized he had forgotten to load his gun before the mission.
In all the chaos, Mark jumped to another rooftop and was trying to aim at Master Ezio again, but Master Ezio was already running away and was out of view. He was probably on his way to tell the other members about the betrayal and rally them against them. Once Mark came down from the rooftop, it was obvious that he was angry. He screamed, "What is your problem Luigi?" Then he blurted out, "Why did you have to sneeze at the worst possible moment and why did you not load your gun? It is useless if you don't load it!" Mark ranted on and on.
"It can still be used as a club!" Mario added. The darkness in Mark's one eye became more intense and he agreed.
"Yes, it could Mario-for punishing incompetent members on a mission." Mark grabbed the gun from Luigi and began beating him senseless with it. Mario just stood back and watched with an evil smirk on his face.
It was the next day by the time Luigi woke up from his unconscious state. Luigi now realized that Mario was not really his brother, but was a power-hungry traitor who only cared about himself. Just at that moment, Luigi remembered where Mark and Mario were hiding out and that he could reveal their location to the guild to help stop them. When Luigi arrived at the guild's secret hideout, he could not see anyone so he walked into the open and, in that instant, numerous figures appeared and surrounded him. Luigi soon realized that they were the other guild members.
"You are foolish to have returned here traitor!" one of them exclaimed. Then Master Ezio made an appearance from out of the crowd.
He scowled, "Ah Luigi, how nice of you to drop by!" He continued in an angry tone, "Too bad you cannot stay and chat because you will soon be dead!"
"What… Why?" Luigi questioned.
Master Ezio barked, "You have betrayed me and this entire guild!"
Luigi cowered from surprise at Master Ezio's sharp tone and pleaded, "You do not understand. Please give me another chance!"
Master Ezio replied, "You are in violation of the guild's rules. Rule number 42 clearly states that anyone found guilty of treachery towards the guild or any of its members shall be punished". Master Ezio roared, "The punishment stated is the death penalty!" Then, Master Ezio sneered as he looked Luigi straight in the eye with a hint of disgust in his voice. In a somewhat excited voice, Master Ezio stated, "So without any further adieu, you shall receive your punishment!" Master Ezio drew his pistol, aimed at Luigi's head and was about to pull the trigger, but suddenly loud sirens could be heard and police officers began barging into their hideout. This resulted in Master Ezio leaving Luigi to focus on fighting with the officers.
"You brought them here, no doubt, you worthless swine" one of the other guild members yelled as they took cover and began fighting. The battle raged on in the guild's hideout. Luigi did not know how they had found the secret hideout in the first place since it was under the streets of the city. He thought someone in the guild must have leaked the information. Luigi was hiding away from the others behind a desk in hopes they would forget about him and leave after the battle was over. The sounds of automatic machine guns and pistols rang out for miles. The noise was so loud it could have woken the dead, Luigi thought to himself. The firing started to settle down and Luigi peered out from the desk. He saw many dead bodies all over the floor, assassins and police officers alike. There were about 35 in total he estimated, but he knew there were a lot more guild members still alive. Then he realized that they must have escaped along with Master Ezio. Luigi saw this as an opening to escape from the guild, so he carefully and slowly moved towards the exit being as quiet as a mouse.
Once Luigi made it to the secret tunnel that lead to the street's surface, he poked his head out to check to see if everything was clear. On the street, he noticed several dark silhouettes coming out of the alleyways and police blockades on all sides of the street. Luigi now knew that the guild was trapped, but still did not know how their secret hideout had been located by the authorities. Luckily, Luigi was not wearing his guild clothing and the police considered him an innocent by standard. The police covered him through the danger zone and let him pass freely.
Luigi now was painfully aware that the guild was against him and decided to see if he could spy on Mario and Mark. On the way to Mark's house, Luigi noticed that nobody was out of their homes except for him, the police, and a of couple citizens. Luigi thought it was extremely strange that there were so many police out that day until he saw a TV through a window in an electronics store broadcasting the news. The reporter was revealing that the assassin's guild had been found with the help of two civilians.
The reporter continued by announcing, "The assassins are pinned down outside their hideout and they will soon no longer be a threat to any of us." The reporter rambled on some more, but what Luigi noticed was the picture of the two "civilians". His jaw dropped in shock as he looked at a picture of Mario and Mark with a subtitle Public Heroes below their pictures. Luigi knew that title was way off for describing those two criminals after what he saw them do, but Luigi realized it no longer mattered. What they had done was over and he needed to focus on what they were going to do and how to stop them.
Luigi decided to inform the authorities that Mario and Mark could not be trusted, so he went to see the Chief of Police. After a long wait, the Police Chief had a meeting with him. The Chief was quite overweight, so much so that he barely fit into his chair. He had a pudgy face and looked pretty weak. He was not very tall either. Luigi could see lots of old doughnut boxes scattered around the room. The Police Chief enquired, "You say that you have urgent news, Mr. Luigi."
Luigi quickly responded in a hasty voice, "Yes, sir!"
"Calm down!" the Chief replied to Luigi. "What is this urgent news you have?" the Chief asked in a very casual voice.
"It is Mario and Mark", Luigi stated, "They cannot be trusted because they are traitors!" he continued.
The Chief laughed, "You expect me to believe that the city's saviors are traitors?" the chief said jokingly. "Is this some kind of joke?" he continued.
"It is true!" Luigi insisted.
"Look, smart guy", the Chief said in a very serious tone. "Those two are heroes for revealing the location of the assassins which have been terrorizing our city for as long as anyone can remember. They are on our side."
Luigi interrupted, "They are not on your side or the assassins' side. They are on their own side and want to control the city!" Luigi stated this in a determined voice.
The Chief began laughing again and blurted out, "You crack me up!"
Luigi exclaimed, "This is no joke."
"I advise you to get out of my office before I send you to the loony bin", the Chief replied. Luigi realized he was fighting a losing battle and stormed out of the Police Chief's office.
Luigi returned to his original plan and went to Mark's house to spy on him and Mario. Luigi knew that they were hiding and most likely plotting in Mark's basement. Luigi arrived at Mark's place and was relieved to hear voices coming out of some vents on the side of the house. "I made it in time", Luigi said to himself with a hint of relief in his voice. He stuck his ear close to the vent and began eavesdropping on their conversation.
"So we come in here to take control and then the city will have no choice but to surrender", Luigi heard Mark's familiar voice say.
"As for Master Ezio?" Luigi heard Mario's voice question.
"If he survives the police attack, we will make him disappear like magic, though I doubt we will have to." Luigi heard Mark reply to Mario's question. Both laughed and then everything went silent. A few moments later, Luigi heard the front door being unlocked, so he jumped over the fence and hid. Through a hole in the old fence, he was still able to watch what was happening. He saw Mario and Mark exit the house and jump into Mark's car. They left and Luigi took action by climbing through the window to search for clues. He saw Mark's sniper rifle, so he took it. Next to the rifle was a note which read:
Plan
Step 1: Distract the authorities.
Step 2: Go to the nearby military base and set charges at vital areas.
Step 3: Detonate the charges.
Step 4: Take control of the facility (taking out any stragglers).
Step 5: Threaten to bomb the defenseless city until they give up and give control of Rome to us.
Luigi was terrified at his discovery! This had become very serious. Luigi knew he was on his own since the authorities did not believe him and the guild believed him to be a traitor. He took Mark's sniper rifle and disassembled it. He then placed it in its case as not to arouse suspicion while in the city. Luigi then left Mark's house. He went to Mario's house, avoiding the police blockade on the way, for safety.
Once he arrived at Mario's place, he used the spare key Mario had given him a while back and took Mario's car. He would have taken his own, but his car was broken down at the moment. He drove towards the military base in a hurry, but was careful to not get a speeding ticket from the police. Once he made it to the gate, he parked out of sight and took the scope out of the sniper's case. He used it as a telescope to see what was happening. Luigi saw many guards patrolling their posts. He was about to stop looking, but something caught his eye. He saw two figures running across the outside of a building. He knew it had to be Mario and Mark. Luigi put the scope back in the case and yelled, "Hey!" A guard at the gate went to investigate. Luigi hid behind a bush and waited.
Once the guard saw the parked car, he approached it to investigate. Luigi snuck up behind him and used the sleeper hold and the guard fell unconscious. Luigi took off the guard's clothes, he put them on himself, and then he marched towards the gate. The other guards did not expect anything. Luigi stated, "I'm going take a five-minute break, guys."
"Already? You took one ten minutes ago." one of the other guards said.
"I need to do some business", Luigi replied.
"Fine then. Just be back quickly because my shift is almost over", the same guard answered. Luigi went inside of the building and began climbing the stairs quickly for he knew that Mario and Mark were going to blow the base up if he did not act quickly. Luigi made it to the top of the tower and used a sleeper hold on the guard stationed there. He then assembled the sniper rifle and looked around. He spotted Mario and Mark off in the distance. They had just placed a charge and were jumping through a window. Luigi did not have clear shot. If only he was a minute sooner he thought, but there was no time to mourn the past. He still had a job to do, so Luigi got on top of the railing and jumped to the adjacent building as not to waste precious time. He grabbed a window sill and jerked himself through it with a grunt.
On the floor below, he heard Mark yell, "Let's blow this joint!" A beep was heard which was followed by an orchestra of deafening explosions. All other buildings that Luigi could see out of the window had been destroyed by the humungous blast. Luigi thought that countless guards must have been slaughtered and he ran for the stairs and looked into the hallway. Guards were rushing into the control room and they were getting shot one by one. The gunfire was loud, but it was soon over. Luigi crept closer to the door and listened. The PA system was being used by Mark.
"We now have control of this military base's bombers and missiles. We will bomb the city of Rome unless you surrender and give control of the city to us", Mark stated.
"Who said anything about "we", Mario said in a sly, deceptive voice. Luigi looked around the corner and saw Mario holding a pistol to Mark's head. Mark tried to grab his pistol, but Mario responded by pulling the trigger, killing Mark.
A loud voice could be heard from outside the base. "We surrender!" came blaring over the speakers.
"Perfect", Mario exclaimed on the PA. "Now leave the city or I will fire", he continued.
"Very well", the other voice answered, and a line of police cars could be seen heading away from the city. Luigi then jumped around the corner with a pistol in his hand and yelled "Freeze!"
Mario slowly turned around and grimaced, "You would not kill your own brother, would you?"
Luigi replied, "Try me!" Mario reached for his pistol and Luigi knew he could not kill him, so he quickly retreated to the outside of the control room.
"I knew it—you are all talk", Mario mocked. "Now leave me alone as I have a city to take over!" Mario screamed. Luigi threw down his gun and ran towards Mario, throwing the first punch. A fist fight was underway between them and punches were being thrown back and forth like a boxing match.
In the end, Mario succumbed to exhaustion due to his weight. Luigi grabbed a pistol and aimed at Mario's head. Once again, Luigi could not kill his brother. He could not pull the trigger. They had grown up together and Luigi loved his brother. Regardless of what he did, he would not want him to die because he loved him. That's when Mario grabbed a pistol and yelled, "Are you going to shoot or do I have to kill you?" This reminded Luigi of when Mark had said something similar to him. This flashback filled Luigi with rage and when he looked back at Mario, he no longer saw his brother and instead he saw Mark. Luigi shot him in the head. He had realized that Mario was just like Mark. Even though they were brothers, Mario was truly evil.
Luigi announced on the PA that the city was now free! Luigi heard voices behind him, so he turned around to see some of the guild members standing there. "We now see you are not a traitor, Luigi. Master Ezio died in the fight."
Another guild member continued, "For your display of strength and courage here, we have decided to let you become the new leader of our guild." Luigi accepted the position and put on the black robe of leadership. A traditional ceremony then took place. After it was over, Luigi went back on the PA and announced, "The guild of assassins that terrorized you for so long now will repay its debt to the city by helping hunt down and assassinate those who would oppress the people. The guild will eliminate corrupt individuals and power abusers."
Luigi now knew that assassins and killing were not all bad as he had originally believed. He also knew that the guild could be used for good, rather than evil. Luigi lived out the rest of his life helping the city with his guild as he had promised. He changed the rules to be fair to members of the guild. The guild helped eliminate many war criminals, mass murderers, psychos, and other individuals to make the world a better and safer place. The guild still operates today in secret and will continue to do so in the future because of Luigi's courageous actions.
THE END
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