Chapter 3
Aero laid his bed, staring at the ceiling as noon rolled around. He had called Bobby and told him he couldn't go in and Bobby fully understood, giving Aero a few days off. Aero stared up at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts as his mother entered his room and looked at her son.
"Hey," she said, snapping Aero from his trance, "Ready to get going?"
"Yeah," Aero said quietly, pulling the covers off and getting dressed as his mother left him. He quickly left his room, his hat covering his eyes as he and his mother left the apartment and out to the quiet sidewalk. Aero had to go get a suit for Marcus's funeral which was in a few days. He and his mother walked slowly, neither saying a word as they walked into a small shop and got Aero measured and fitted for the suit. Soon enough they returned with a few groceries, allowing Aero to go back to his room, lay on his bed and try and get more rest. However, before he could sleep his mother came into the room. She sat on his bed next to his head, placing a hand on the top near his bat ears and scratching his head gently.
"It's okay Aero, Marcus is in a better place," she said softly.
"Yeah, I guess so," Aero replied quietly.
"I'm sure he's happy where he is Aero and I'm sure he misses you deeply."
"I bet," Aero said sadly, trying to keep the good memories of him and his friend, not the one that had been plaguing his young mind the past twelve hours.
"Have you been to his parent's house?"
"Not yet."
"Maybe you should go tonight."
"I might," he said, closing his eyes and sighing deeply as his mother shook her head.
"Try and think positively Aero, I know Marcus would not want to see you like this. I'll have dinner ready in a couple of hours, go see his parents," Vivian said, patting his shoulder as she got up and left the room, closing the door behind her. Aero looked at the door than at one of his walls, contemplating what to do. He was scared to visit Marcus's parents because of the swell of emotion he knew would come up when he got there, but he knew he would have to confront it eventually. He got up, said goodbye to his mother and left, walking down the sidewalk and crossing streets until he found himself in front of a small three-story brick townhouse with a brown roof, red door and closed windows. He tapped on the front door, hoping no one would open it. Sadly for Aero, Marcus's mother opened it and looked at Aero with joy and sadness.
"Aero Kalo," she said with a soft smile gracing her lips that matched the tone of her voice, "come on in. Is your mother not joining us?"
"Thanks and sorry Mrs. Smart, she's making dinner right now."
"Ah, I see," she said. She turned and walked upstairs, with Aero trailing behind her. The downstairs had only a garage while the second floor was the kitchen and living room and the third housed the bedrooms. The living room was a brilliant shade of light orange which was complimented by brown walls in the kitchen.
Grace Smart was wearing a simple white sleeping gown that covered her aged body. She sat next to her husband, who was watching a sporting event. William Smart was wearing jeans and a green-shirt while Grace's sister, Juliet, was completely covered by a blanket as she laid on the couch. All three had more prominent whiskers than Marcus had along with more pronounced fangs. Grace leaned close to her husband and whispered something, making him immediately turn to Aero and wave him over to him. Aero approached cautiously until William pulled him into a hug and gently squeezed. Aero was shocked by what William did but returned the hug and returned the squeeze as best he could, all the while feeling wetness on his shoulder. Both let go as Grace pointed to a dining room chair.
"Pull a seat up Aero," she said, Aero doing as she said. He placed the seat next to William and watched the sporting event with them until Aero turned to Grace.
"How did you know my name? I've never been around here."
"Oh I know dear, but Marcus talked quite a bit about you," she said, her brown eyes glistening when she spoke her deceased son's name. Aero nodded his head as William gripped his shoulder.
"Marcus told us what you'd do for him, the advice you gave him and the 'scores' you two had. You were a good kid to him Aero," William said, patting Aero's shoulder. Aero nodded his head and breathed deeply, trying to keep his emotions in check.
"It's okay Aero," Juliet said suddenly, spotting the young man trying to calm himself down, "We've all shed a lot of tears already. You can let it go."
"I think I've done enough crying for now," Aero said. The four continued to watch the event while talking and reminiscing about Marcus until Aero looked at the clock and realized he had been there for an hour and a half.
"Well, thank you guys for having me and I am so sorry for your loss," Aero said, directing the last part to William and Grace. The three of them thanked him and hugged him before he left, telling them he would be at the funeral with his mother in a few days. Aero returned home to his mother watching TV, eating pasta and pointing to some being left on the stove. He sluggishly ate the food then returned to his room, staring at the clock and waiting for time to go by.
Aero peeked from out of his room and looked at his mother's door, which was closed. It was nearly time for the meeting and Aero knew he had to get going. He tip-toed past his mother's door, opened the window in the living room as easily as he could without making noise, climbed through it then closed it behind him. He made his way down the fire escape and to the old warehouse that was at the address than looked across the street. The dark, looming forest waited for him and it seemed as though something was beckoning to Aero, causing him to quickly go in. However, Aero realized how bad of an idea this was considering Grimm could be anywhere, thus why when he heard a branch snap a few feet away he jumped and yelped.
"Jeez kid calm down," he heard in the shadows, realizing it was the same man that had given him the card at the plaza, "You alright?"
"Yeah, sorry, I thought you were one of those Beowolf's," Aero said as he felt two hands clamp down on his shoulders and move him forward, the gentleman directing him.
"I understand," he said as they walked, "How are you holding up?"
"I'm okay," Aero replied solemnly as the man tapped his shoulders.
"Don't worry, things are going to be different after tonight," the man said as the two approached a small, flat field. In the middle were twenty other people, each seeing one another thanks to torches that were sticking six feet out of the ground. In front of them stood two more people and everyone ranged in ages, yet Aero could tell he was the youngest. The man led him to one of the torches than walked to the other two and shook their hands, striking up conversation with them. Aero stayed next to one of the torches and looked around, trying to look calm yet his trembling hindered him.
"You okay?" he heard to his left. It came from a young woman with light brown braided hair that framed her face and fell to her shoulders, cream colored skin and light orange eyes. She was wearing a black skirt that reached her knees, boots and a buttoned up red and white plaid shirt.
"I'm fine," Aero replied, looking down at the green grass.
"When did they get you?" she asked, her silvery voice catching Aero's attention.
"Huh?"
"Who did you kill?"
"Oh… It was a guy that killed my friend in… I saw him do it and then he went for me," Aero said. The young woman patted his shoulder in sympathy.
"You?"
"My father was about to rape my mother while being drunk. I pulled him off, he hit me, I grabbed one of his bottles, broke it over his skull after a few hits. He lunged at me and I dug the bottle into his chest."
"Fucking hell," Aero said as she nodded her head.
"Dad was always a huge prick and bastard, so he had it coming, ya know?" she asked as Aero nodded. She held her hand out for Aero, who took it and shook his hand.
"Lila Evergreen."
"Aero Kalo," he returned with a small smile that she copied as one of the men up front cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"Alright guys. I know you have a lot of questions and I want you to understand we can't tell you everything. Some of you guys are professional mercenaries, others killed by chance. Doesn't matter to us," Aero's recruiter began.
"We getting paid for this shit?" one of the women up front asked with an attitude.
"You will but you must pledge your life to our cause and be fully committed to it and not go to anyone else," the man answered.
"Get out of here," another said, a few of them now grumbling.
"You guys want something different? Fine, leave. Be our guest. But keep in mind one thing: if you say one word about coming here and this location, you will be killed on the spot, understood?" a young man next to the other two said. Six turned to him, waiting to see if he was bluffing then left, going back into the forest. There journey was cut short when shots rang out, hitting each person in the head cleanly, their blood and brains splattering the grass, making everyone except the three men up front back away.
"Anyone else want to leave?" one asked in slightly gruff voice, earning shaking heads, "Perfect. Well, now that that's taken care of, allow me to introduce you to The Syndicate. You can call me Micky, this," he motioned to the man that had helped Aero, "is Nico. The young chap is Sebastian. Ready to begin initiation?"
Suddenly, the ground beneath the remaining participants shifted and began to descend, causing them to look at the metallic walls as the torches disappeared into small holes in the newly revealed metallic plate.
"So, before you ask, you can leave at any time. We had to weed the mercenaries out. Every time we try and get them to our side for their expertise but they only care about money at the end of the day. However, the same threat applies to you lot: speak even a syllable of what you've heard and what you've see and you will meet your maker early," Micky said as the lift stopped in front of two large doors. They parted to reveal a white corridor with a metallic floor, where the three led the rest of the recruits forward. Halfway down the hallway it split in three ways: straight, left and right yet they continued forward. At the end of the long hallway two more doors opened to a small room that looked like the hallway but filled with chairs where Micky told everyone to sit while he stood in front of them.
"Now, I know a lot of you have a lot of questions going through your mind and I hope I can answer all of them with what I'm about to say. The Syndicate started about twenty-five years ago. Certain people in society saw what was happening in the four kingdoms and tried to stop it, however it was too late and the Great War began. Since then however, we have been ever vigilant in trying to prevent another war. How do we do that? We kill. We take out anyone who we think will have a negative impact on the world on any species, human or faunus."
"So, you keep the kingdoms in check in a way," someone blurted out.
"Pretty much," Micky said. He was older with his white hair matching his skin and contrasted his dark green eyes. He wore a blue business jacket over a red shirt and jeans with sneakers. Nico still wore the all silver suit that Aero had seen him in when they met. Sebastian was the youngest of the three and was listening intently while taking notes, his brown eyes scanning his notepad as he wore an orange shirt and red jeans with blonde hair that contrasted his dark skin.
"We want you guys on because you're young, which means you're open to a lot of different ideas," Nico said, standing up and taking Micky's place, "We want you on because you will be the new generation to have influence. You will change the political atmosphere for years to come if you join us."
"How do you expect us to kill if you picked us by chance?" Aero questioned, making Nico smirk at the young faunus.
"Good question. Trust me, we will fully train you in hand-to-hand combat, gun and sword use. You will take contracts from us and from the kingdoms who believe that certain politicians have gotten too much power. You will fight for your life and take lives with the simple pull of a trigger. We want you guys to understand that The Syndicate is about making the world better."
With his speech out of the way, Nico sat back down, allowing Micky to get back up.
"I know this is a lot to take in. Some of you we got by a chance while some of you are trained killers or knowing killers. I understand this isn't the life for some of you. But I believe in every group I pull in and I believe in you guys," he began, motioning for everyone to follow him as they walked back to the elevator, "Come back here in three days with your answer, which is a simple yes or no. If you don't, again I really stress that you don't say a word or you will be dead. Clear?" he said turning to the group. Everyone nodded as he hit a switch, the elevator moving up slowly until they were back in the field.
"Have a good night guys and think long and hard about this offer," Nico said as everyone left. Aero nodded to Nico and walked beside Lila, the two sharing small chat with one another and getting to know one another better. Aero found out that she was two years older than him and lived across the capital in the industrial section. The two bonded over being single children and not having the best living locations, with their chatter stopping at Aero's apartment, where they said their goodbyes. All the while the three members had watched the recruits leave and chatted amongst themselves.
"Whatcha think Sebastian?" Nico asked.
"I think any of them could be good members. The question is, especially for recruits like Aero and Lila, are they willing to kill again and again especially being so young?"
"Oh I think Aero is," Nico said, leaning against a torch as Micky turned to him.
"What makes you saw that Mr. Cocky?"
"He wants to fight for his people, that's a cause just as good as ours."
"Hopefully they'll make good members of the Assassin's Guild… when are we going to tell them that they are assassins and not members of another group idiotically titled 'The Syndicate'?" Sebastian asked with air quotes.
"In due time we'll tell them. And there's nothing wrong with The Syndicate because I thought of it. Besides, don't you have handler training to do?" Nico asked, earning a groan from Sebastian and a chuckle from Micky. Sebastian began to walk away, leaving the two elder assassins alone in the field to go over the recruits, ready to weed out the weak and make the Assassin's Guild stronger.
FUCK I'M STILL WORKING ON THIS BECAUSE MY COMPANY THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO SCHEDULE ME FOR FIVE STRAIGHT DAYS, THEN HAVE A DAY OFF, THEN THREE STRAIGHT DAYS. Thus is A reason why I'm just now on five. However, I'm flying through it and so are the chapters pace wise because, again, this acts as the prequel and I want to get through this so we can get to the meat of it all. Come back next week for initiation! Fav, review, whatever!