Atrophic Assassins

Chapter 2


Miyu made her way to her "den" as they called it down here. Every assassin's den was different yet similar in style compared to others. All the assassin's dens had just about the same space and colors but each room represented its individual owner and so no room was exactly the same. As Miyu walked towards her den she was greeted by her foxy friend Krystal. Ironically, Krystal was a fox with a very foxy attitude, but don't let that confuse your assessment of her skills; she was very skilled in the art of weaponry.

Krystal bounded up behind Miyu and grappled her to the ground. Miyu, as always, had the upper hand and managed to roll Krystal to a position underneath her. She then pressed her forearm into her throat, pretending to choke Krystal to death.

"You surrender?"

"Never…"

Krystal surprised Miyu this time by using her thigh to shift Miyu to the side, turning the tables on her. Krystal didn't bother trying to choke Miyu; instead she just sat on top of her and smiled triumphantly.

"You done yet?"

Krystal gave a sly look along with a smile before standing up and helping Miyu to her feet. "Sure…I guess you could say that. But you need to build up your stamina…I mean come on…you're asking if I was done with you after one minute. You won't be able to please your mate with an attitude like that. Oh, I almost forgot…you don't have a mate yet do you?"

Miyu closed her eye and shook her head slowly, as if she couldn't believe the nature of her friend. "Sometimes Krystal…I swear…I wonder if you're ever going to find a suitable mate."

"Of course I am…just look at my beauty." Krystal lifted her chin high and then struck a somewhat sexual pose.

Miyu examined Krystal over very quickly. True, Krystal was a walking beauty such as herself…if you counted good looks along with ammo straps going across her chest and an oversized rifle strapped to her back. Her beauty was more likely to be defined as one of those fierce Amazonian warrior women: Beautiful yet contrastingly deadly.

Even though Krystal was very childish, playful, and foxy in character she was in no way, sense, or form any less deadlier than Miyu…if anything, she was more potent than Miyu. Krystal was what the assassins would call "quick-minded". But mind you, these were other assassins calling her quick-minded; their definition of quick-minded was completely different than an average-everyday-Joe's.

Krystal was not only quick witted in her tongue but also in her mind…the strategic side. For example, on a certain mission that would require more than one assassin, which meant that they would need a party of assassins, if Miyu was to be put in charge as the party leader than she would execute the mission very effectively…but with a few casualties too. Her team needs to take out a group of men located inside a building surrounded on all sides by walls. There are empty trucks in the parking lot, a couple oil barrels lying against the wall, and one entrance in and out of the targeted building. Miyu would most likely take the approach of blowing up the barrels and the trucks, causing destruction as well as confusion. The explosion from the barrels would most likely break a hole in the wall…forcing the targets to come outside. The sight of their totaled vehicles would lower their moral as well as disorient them. Miyu would then take her team in and wipe them out with minimal injuries.

Now let's look at Krystal's perspective. She wouldn't need to use the vehicles to disorient anything…except for bait. She would order one of her party members to trigger a alarm inside the building, drawing the targets outside. As the targets searched for the intruder they would eventually be led outside to check things out, Krystal would then order the rest of her party members to engage the targets from afar, goading them to run away instead of putting up a fight…because how can you fight something that you can barely see? While the targets made a run to their vehicles Krystal would've already been training her rifle sights on the highly explosive barrels. When the targets were in proximity of the estimated explosion's radius she would pull the trigger and set off some large fireworks. The heat and force from the blast would without a doubt take out more than a few targets immediately while rendering the rest useless or immobile. After the explosion, Krystal would then order everyone to move in for the final kills without any casualties whatsoever.

This was a quick thinker within the assassin's ranks…someone who knew how to plan missions out with minimal to no casualties. And because of Krystal's uncanny ability to think out situations such as this, she was steadily climbing the ranks with unsurprising ease.

"Uh huh…If I were you I'd get rid of all the equipment first before calling myself beautiful."

Krystal snorted and flung her tail in Miyu's face before walking away. Miyu just rolled her eyes before continuing back to her den. As Miyu walked past the numerous shut doors to her left and right she began to reminisce on her past…how she met Krystal…how she came to be an assassin:

A young female lynx sat in a dark corner of a recently abandoned apartment, her head buried in her knees and sobbing lightly; the clothes on her fur were old, worn, and tattered. In what was supposed to be the living room there was a bloody mess: The table had been smashed in, the chairs were knocked over, and if you scrutinized it all closely enough you could just barely make out the crimson bundle of flesh.

A moment earlier there had been a great struggle between the lynx's parents and some shady fox. Her parents were murdered on the spot after the intruder broke in. He began to terrorize them for no particular reason before he murdered them one by one in front of the lynx, first her father then her mother. The fact that he had murdered them in front of the innocent child was cruel in itself…but it was crueler in the style and way in which the perpetrator had carried out his sick task. The father had it coming first; he was slowly strangled using the child's own jumping rope. But before he died from choking the fox pulled out a long object of some sort and had pierced his lungs with it, ending in a slow and painful death of drowning in your own blood. The lynx's mom covered her daughter's eyes and sheltered her from the gruesome scene…the sheltering didn't last for long because she could still hear the gurgling of her father's voice. The fox watched his victim die before dragging the mother away from the crying lynx.

The mother's death was carried out with no more mercy than the father's. The fox lifted the lynx's mother up with one hand and then stuck the sharp object through her throat. He then let go of both the mother and sword and watched the mother lynx wildly grasp at the hilt of the sword, trying desperately to pry it from her esophagus but utterly failing. With a last final struggle the mother lynx's arms fell to her sides and she gave a one last longing stare at her daughter before falling on the father lynx. The fox laughed maniacally before ripping the sword away from the body and turning to face the young lynx child. She whimpered in fear but then surprised the fox by standing up and holding her ground instead of running away. The lynx girl cried out and ran at the fox teeth bared, claws outstretched, and tears streaming down her face. The fox backhanded the lynx and sent her spinning into the wall…when the lynx was able to regain her senses and look up the mysterious fox was standing at the entrance of her doorway, grinning maliciously yet nodding his head as if he approved of her fighting spirit. Then with the flash of thunder he was lost in the pouring rain outside.

The lynx didn't know who the fox was, why the fox had killed her parents, but she did know what his eyes looked like. When the thunder had flashed she had seen the features of his evil face: His left eye was a dull, blue orb.

After crying for what seemed like an eternity, the lynx crawled to her dead parents and slept in her mother's cold, dead lifeless arms. The storm outside only seemed to intensify, the crack of thunder jolting the lynx awake every now and then.

The next morning the lynx woke up in her mother's arms and snuggled in closer for warmth and comfort. When she didn't get a response and the smell of death hit her nostrils she quickly stood up and recalled everything from last night in vivid detail. She broke away from her mother's stiff arms and took in the scene in broad daylight. Tears began to flow freely once more as she cradled herself, trying to reassure herself that it was all a bad dream.

Suddenly the floor creaked slightly and the shadow of a fox fell across her; she immediately thought of the mysterious fox that had killed her parents. Her mind was filled with anger as her breathing became ragged and heavy; the creaking stopped right behind her. The lynx screamed in anger and spun around while swinging her arm at where she though his face would be. Her arm met nothing but air as it passed over the fox's head; she snarled and threw a punch. The fox seemed to be able to read her every move because he dodged her punch too. The lynx was surprised for a second before she became so enraged that she just charged the fox this time. The fox waited patiently for her to come into range and then he lashed out with frightening speed and accuracy…and picked up the still struggling lynx in his arms, setting her mid-section on his shoulder and then carrying her out her door. As she saw her dead parent's body getting farther and farther away she suddenly didn't want to fight anymore. She began to kick, scream and cry, ordering the fox to take her back to her parents. The fox gave no heed to her commands or even acknowledged that she was putting up a struggle. The lynx only calmed down after realizing that this fox had shades on and had white hair. This fox was different from the fox from last night…this fox meant her no harm.

The fox carried the lynx down the sewer system and lugged her through a never ending maze of dark hallways and pipes. It became so repetitive to the lynx that she soon fell asleep from boredom and fatigue. She was awakened by the shudder of the elevator/shower. The fox opened the door and she was beheld by the sight of the white, pure cleanliness of this underground world; contrastingly different against the dirty, dark dreary world of the sewers. Everywhere the lynx looked she saw happy people, some of the folks even smiled and waved at her. She didn't know what to do so she just stared and waved back also.

The fox took her past many slide doors located along the stretched hallway. He soon led her to a room, which she suspected was his own. It was rather large for a room: A medium sized bed in one corner, a desk with a stack of messy papers lying on top, and a strangely high-domed ceiling with a grossly large painting of some sickly colored green. The lynx cub pointed at the ceiling and had to ask why he painted it that color.

"Mister…why did you paint your ceiling an ugly color?"

"Oh that, hahaha…well first off my name is Fox. Second off, that isn't a painting. That is a window that is showing what is above your new home."

"My…new home?"

"Ya…since your old home is gone. I saw your parents lying dead on the floor…"

"Wait how did you know that I needed a new home?" The lynx asked inquisitively.

"Its called scouting, young-un. I go off in search for new members for our growing community. I find that the ones who have nothing to lose are the best for our community so I go search for them. It just happens that I found your door broken open and decided to investigate."

As the lynx was reminded of her dead parents she began to cry again, unable to hold back her tears. The fox gave her a warm smile and beckoned her to come closer, opening his arms with strange but tenderly love. She buried her face in his shoulder and cried into it while he patted her back.

"Everything's going to be alright kid…you're with me…you're with us."

She only nodded her head and held onto Fox.

"By the way…I never got your name."

"Miyu." She whispered.