I sprinted down the road, rain hitting my face.

'Please be ok, please be ok.'

"Come on baby, show us the goods" Said a voice.

"Piss off." Said Sugu.

I heard a sword being drawn and I ran towards the sound. When I got there Sugu was in the middle of the two guys with her sword drawn. One of the guys grabbed her from behind, restraining her as the other walked up to her and raised his hand across his face.

'No you don't, you bastard'

I threw my grapple, wrapping it around his legs and pulled. He screamed as I start reeling him in, and once he was close I drove my sword through his face. I couldn't risk blowing my cover so I threw one of my picks into Sugu's leg, paralyzing her. After that, the only person left to deal with was the assailant. Who I made short work of by using grapple to to reel him in like I did his friend. When he was close, I used the end of the rope in my hands and tied it around his around his neck. His friend, the one with the sword in his face died, as I untied and threw the rope over a tree branch.

"Oh god please. Don't do this, have mercy!" He wailed.

Just as I grabbed the rope, Sugu managed to pull out an antidote crystal. So I pulled the rope, lifting him in the air by the throat and I stomped on the bottom of the dagger pinning it to the ground.

"Cure!" Yelled Sugu.

"Well, gotta run." I said to the hanging player.

And so I ran, leaving the players life in Sugu's hands. I went back to the library, where Argo was standing in from of the console.

"There you are, where have you been?" She asked.

"Work." I replied.

"I must say your reputation precedes you, "Dark Assassin"."

"Dark Assassin? Argo, what you're talking about?"

She turned around and pressed a button on the console, which caused the screen to appear with an image of me hanging the witness from earlier.

"The people are calling the Dark Assassin, after the little stunt you pulled."

"That could be anyone." I said.

"Kirito, you need to be more careful. Running into a safezone and not using the ring, what were you thinking?"

"I didn't have time to put it on, he saw me kill one of my targets. PoH doesn't want too much exposure."

"So you chased him into a town?"

"It was in the heat of the moment, I just wanted to scare him into not snitching. But after what happened, it should scare people into fearing Laughing Coffin."

"But what happened? How did you do it?" She asked.

I walked over to the console and pulled up the code.

"Suicide code, allows players to kill themselves. I discovered it after I killed him."

Argo looked at the code, with a shocked look on her face. It was silent for a while.

"You realize that the Knights and the other Clearers will be after you." She finally said.

"Well, luckily I've got a rat on the inside."

"Really, Who?"

"You."

"Me? What can I do?"

"You'll think of something. I'm betting the Knights are going to want to control the story, calm the people. Asuna and Leafa trust you, so tell them you discovered a suicide code. And if all else fails, use your newspaper."

I placed my hand on she shoulder before leaving the Library and heading back to the cave.

Two weeks later

I walked into the cave, to PoH, his lieutenants, and a few grunts in PoH office, standing around a table with a map of the floor on it. They were all talking about something, arguing more like it. One of the lackeys said something to PoH, that caused him to draw his dagger and behead the lackey.

"Now with that taken care of, back to the topic at hand. How do we attack the Knights?" He said.

"It's not like we can just walk into town like the Assassin. Of course he haven't told us how he did it."

Everyone started talking all at once. I walked up to the table and slammed a lackeys head into it. The room went quiet.

"Now that I have you attention. The answer to your question is simple. So simple, I suprised no one thought of it." I said.

"So enlighten us, Assassin." PoH said.

"We attack them when they least expect it." I said.

"Oh, so we wait for them to be vulnerable? How will we manage that?" Xa said.

"What I told you, they found the labyrinth and are looking for the boss room. Tomorrow they're going to take a small squad of about a dozen soldiers."

"And how do you know that?" Xa said.

"Confidential Informant, just like the one you have, Xa."

"What do you suggest, kid?" PoH said.

"The road to the labyrinth goes through a choke point. There's cover and vantage points all over. I say we ambush them there." I said, pointing on the map the vantage points and the ambush site.

"Hmmm, can you confirm how many players will be there?" PoH said.

"I'll get confirmation from my contact now." I said.

"Then it's decided: We'll attack the Knights here, and Kirito will lead the ambush."

"But PoH -." Xa said.

"Thank you, PoH. I won't let you down."

THE NEXT DAY

I confirmed the Knights plans with Argo. A few minutes before the Knights would arrive at the ambush, I climbed one of the vantage points and was accompanied by Kai.

"What are you doing up here?" He said.

"Preparing for the ambush." I said.

"Well we have a couple of minutes before they arrive, so I gotta know. How'd you do it, how did you kill in a safezone?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Why, we're friends aren't we? You can trust me."

"I can't tell you because I don't know I did it."

Kai was about to say something, when the targets started arrive. Among the predicted dozen players were two people I didn't expect: Heathcliff and Asuna.

"Damn, both the commanders are here, this is not good." I said to Kai.

"But the plan could still work. We're just trying to hurt them."

The ambush had started, LC members started attacking.

"Witness me!" Said a grunt as he jumped from his vantage point at Heathcliff.

Heathcliff hit him in the stomach with the top of his shield, and slammed him into the ground. His shield went right through the grunt, splitting him in two.

'Good god, he cut him in half.'

I drew my sword and jumped towards a knight, when sudden Healthcliff -who was nearby- bashed me in the face with that damn shield of his. The force of the hit shot me through about a dozen trees to a clearing.

'Ugh, my head, and the ringing in my ears. I feel like I've been hit by a bus, or a train.'

I tried to stand but I didn't have the strength, and collapsed again. I saw a figure on the edge of the clearing, before everything went black.

'Am I dead?'

When I opened my eyes, I was lying on a bed in a wooden building.

'The hell?'

Someone walked into the building, their cursor was orange.

"Ah, good, you're awake." He said.

"Where the hell am I and who are you?" I said.

I touched around my mouth and looked at my chest, my bandana, coat and poncho were missing.

"Hoods and masks are not required in the village. And to answer your other question. I am Lord Shiva and you're in my comfortable new village."

"Why am I here?" I asked.

"You're here because I'm in need of a man of your skills. Dark Assassin."

"I'm not telling you how to kill in a safezone!"

"Oh god no, I don't want to know that. I need your help killing a group of people."

"A contract?"

"Well, yes and no. You'd be assisted by me and a few others."

"Who's the target?

"My former friend. His name is Creacher."

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. It's what he's done and is going to do that concerns me."

"What has he done?"

"He and his guild of psychos kidnap women and does horrible things."

There was a long silence.

"I'll do it. Where do we find him?"

"Excellent, I'll go get a team together." Shiva said, standing up ad walking out of the room.

I looked around the room and found my stuff on a chair. I got up, threw him on, and pulled up the hood of my poncho, before walking out of the room. Shiva HQ was an actual village, and its population consisted of green and orange players.

"Shiva, what is this place really?" I asked.

"It's an abandoned village; I think I was put here to make players curious." Shiva said. "And in case you're wondering, all the orange players are here by choice. They're like me, willing to do a little bad, for the greater good. The teams all here. Let's go." Shiva said.

We left the village, and followed the road for a few minutes before continuing off the beaten path.

"If you don't mind me, what were you thinking?" Shiva said.

"What do you mean?" I said.

"Attacking Heathcliff, you'd have to be insane to do that. Everyone knows he has a unique skill that makes him the strongest player in the game."

"Yeah, I'm aware of that now. My head is still ringing from getting bashed by his shield."

We arrived at a teleport gate in the Area.

"I've never seen or heard of a teleport gate outside a town."

"These gates are special, they only connect to each other, and not the ones in the towns. There are ones like this on every other floor. It's good for orange players to get around. But this is to remain our little secret." Shiva said.

"My lips are sealed. Now, where are we going?"

"We're going down to the 28th Floor. To one of Creacher's safe houses. There we can find one of his grunts."

"I thought you said we were going after Creacher?"

"We are, the problem is he's too cautious. That's why we're going to try and draw him out, by freeing his victims and attacking his minions."

We all used the gate and teleported to Floor 28. Where we continued down the road till we got to town. When we got there, the green player that occupied us went into the town to look for whoever we were looking for.

15 minutes later

"His been gone for a while." Said one of Shivas men.

"We're gonna have to go in after him." Shiva said.

"Hang on. I'll go in after him." I said.

"How are you going to get in there without causing a scene?" Shiva said.

"You said you needed a man with my skills. Well, one of my skills happens to be infiltration."

"Do you think you can get in, find him and not be seen?"

"Definitely." I said, running into the town.

I ran into an alley, to slip on the ring and remove my poncho, seeing as everyone knows the Assassin wears that poncho. I then walked out of the alley and looked around the town for Shiva's man. After a while I found him, being dragged out of a second entrance of town, by three men. I ran after him but before I could save him the men managed to wrap a noose around his neck and hung him from a tree.

'Damn, there's nothing I can do. If I do anything that will turn me orange, the ring will deactivate. Unless...'

I waited for the men to come back into town, ultimately letting Shiva's man die. Once all the men were in the town I followed them until one of them was far enough away from the others. And I grabbed and dragged him to a secluded location.

"Hi there." I said.

"What the hell do you want?" He said.

"Where's your boss?"

"Go to hell. I'm not a rat."

"I knew I should have worn my poncho, if I did then you would of realized that I'm the only person in Aincrad, that can kill you here."

"There's no way you're the Assassin. The Assassin's tall and you're a midget."

'He's a real psycho.'

"Ok, my patience is wearing thin. So I'm going to give you a choice: Tell me what I want to know, or I'll kill you, and everything and everyone you love."

He stood there, silent with the same twisted smile as Johnny. I let out a sigh.

"Not making a decision is a BIG decision."

I threw him to the ground, and started beating him to a pulp. It took about three minutes for me to break him.

"Stop! I don't know who Creacher is; I've never met em! I only report to this one guy, he's staying at the inn. That's all I know!"

"Ok, I've got one last question and this one is important. What does Creacher and his guild do?"

"I don't know, I'm just the bodyguard."

'He's being completely honest, he doesn't know anything.'

I pulled out my rope and garroted him. He flailed his arms and legs, trying to hit me. It took a while for him to stop squirming and die. Afterwards I went back to Shiva to tell him what happened.

"Kirito, there you are. Did you find our guy?" Shiva said.

"I did, but before I could get to him, he was killed." I said.

Shiva said something. It sounded like he cursed in another language.

"Did you find out anything else?" He said.

"Yeah, after they killed your man, I grabbed one of them and started interrogating him. He said the guy you're looking for is staying at an inn.

"Ah, well that's good news. But how are we going to get him."

"I'll think of something."

I turned around and went back into the town.

'Strange, he didn't acknowledge the change in my cursor.'

I walked towards the inn, trying to think of how to go about the plan. When I got an idea. As I got closer to the inn, I saw a girl walking in front of me, and in the direction of the inn. I started walking faster to catch up to her and when I did; I drew my dagger and pressed it against her back.

"Keep walking, scream and you'll see firsthand, how I can you kill you in a safezone."

The girl tensed up, but kept walking.

"Please don't kill." She said. "What do you want from me?"

"I need your help. And if you help me, you'll walk away from this very much alive. You have my word on that, and I always keep my word."

We walked to the inn, to room 22 and I knocked on the door. When the door opened, I barged in and closed the door.

"What the hell!?" Said one of people in the room.

"Gentleman, allow me to introduce myself. I am a representative of PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin. And I bear a gift." I said pushing the girl forward.

"What the hell does PoH want?" Said a man.

"As you probably didn't know, Laughing Coffin is planning to wage a war against the Knights of the Blood Oath and the other Clearer's."

"So? How does that concern us?"

"My boss wants to ask for your help. Have you guys divert the Clearer's attention, put fear in the non-combatant players. In exchange, we will provide you with "live stock"."

The room was silent.

"We'll have to decline PoH's offer. Our boss wouldn't want us to get involved with the war." Said I'm assuming the man in charge.

"No skin off my nose." I turned around. "Oh, and you can keep the girl. As a sign of good faith." I said as I walked out of the room.

Went back to Shiva.

"So, what happened? Did you get him?" Shiva asked.

"The plan is coming along." I said.

"What was your plan?"

"Use someone as bait and draw them out."

"You what?" Shiva said, angry and panicked.

"Calm down, Shiva. This can be a win-win."

"How? You put an innocent life in danger."

"If he plans to kill her, he'll have to go outside of the town. So, have some of your men guard the other exit. And if there's a chance he brings her somewhere else, I can track them. It's a win-win."

"You three go to the other exit and message me if you see anything." Shiva ordered his men. "God, PoH really has affected you"

"You don't know me, Shiva."

"I know that you were a good person, Kirito. When people look into your eyes, they see evil. But you want to know what I see? I see someone who's experienced loss, pain, and is trying to protect something valuable."

"You don't know what I've been through."

"Well for starters, I can tell you lost your lover. And you're trying to protect someone. Your sister."

I went for my sword, but before I could draw it; Shiva drew his, and held the blade against my throat.

"Trust me Kirito, if I wanted to hurt her, I would have already done it."

"How do you know about her?"

"It's simple. You can't be protecting a lover, because they're already dead. So, you'd have to be protecting a sibling. Those are the only people you would try to protect."

"Lord Shiva, the men have sent word that they have spotted the target. He's heading for the teleportation gate." Said Shiva's man.

"Back into the fray, it seems." Said Shiva, removing his sword from my throat and sheathing it. "You said you could track them?

I turned towards the town and opened my menu. I went to my friends list, found the girls name and looked for her location on the map.

"They're on the 11th floor." I said.

"There's a secret gate on that floor. We'll use the gate here and meet up with you, while you go through the town and follow them."

"Fine." I said, walking into the town.

I went through the town and used the gate to get to the 11th floor. Once I arrived at Taft, the painful memories of the Cats started flooding back, causing me to have a headache made of bees. I pulled up my bandana then opened my menu to put on my poncho and used the map to locate the girl. I followed them outside of Taft and down the road.

'Where are they going? To the labyrinth? A field?'

My question was answered, as two arrows went into my shoulders. I fell backwards before taking cover.

"I knew PoH would never take no for an answer! Which is why when you left, I made some calls." Yelled the man from the inn.

'Bastard!'

I pulled the arrows out of my shoulder, and bolted towards his direction in anger, sword drawn. I got about a dozen feet before getting bombarded with arrows. I fell to my knees as the paralysis symbol appeared. One of the archers walked out in front of me, giggling to himself.

"Looks like that tip was right. Someone managed to catch the Assassin." Said a familiar voice.

'No, no, no. Why?'

I struggled to turn my head, but when I did. I saw Asuna and three other Knights. When I looked in front of me, out of the corner of my eye I saw Shiva and his men running towards me. I pulled an antidote crystal from my pocket and plunged my sword into the archer's stomach, I activated the voice distorter.

"Go after the target! I'll hold them off!" I yelled looking at Shiva.

I removed my sword, grabbed the archer's bow and quiver and shot him in the head. I then started firing arrows at the Knights, hitting all but Asuna.

Asuna bolted towards me, causing me to discard the bow and use my sword. Asuna activated Linear, which I deflected and then knocked her off balance by hitting with my shoulder. I followed up with Slant, knocking her back. Then one of her lackeys came up and tried to attack me from behind. I parried and stabbed him twice, one though the heart, and one through the head, and then I decapitated him.

"Nooo!" Asuna yelled, charging towards me.

There was hatred and fear in her eyes as she hit me with Oblique launching me back, the delay icon appeared in front of me as I hit a tree. Before my feet even touched the ground, Asuna ran towards me again, trying to stab me. I managed to roll out of the way in time.

'Damn, that was close. With the delay effect from the Vice Commander's sword skill and hitting the tree, my movements slowed. I need to be more careful, use my knowledge of her fighting style to my advantage.'

After rolling out of the way, I swung for her leg but only managed to cut her a little. Asuna swung down at me and I blocked her rapier.

"You bastard! They didn't have to die, they were just following orders!" She said, putting her weight down on her rapier.

"That's no excuse." I said.

When the delay effect wore off, I clenched my fist, activating Senda and punched Asuna in the stomach.

"Now the fun can really start." I said, rolling out of the way.

I charged towards Asuna, but she hit me with a Triangular. After the skill ended, I managed to create some space between us. I put my sword on my shoulder, activating Sonic Leap, and jumped in the air, on my descend Asuna raised her rapier to block my attack.

Then something strange happened, when our swords clashed, her rapier broke and knocked her down. And if by instinct, I place my hand on her lower back to catch her. Then I froze, like something was preventing me from moving. Asuna kneed me in the groin to break free, which knocked the sense back into me. I grabbed the bow on the ground and activated Gengetsu, kicking Asuna in the head when I landed I turned the bow sideways, notched two arrows on the string and fired them into Asuna's hands, pinning her to the tree, I was launched into earlier then I fired one more arrow into her foot.

"Ahhhh!"

"Sit tight." I said.

I turned around to see a Knight running towards me. And then out of nowhere Shiva appears, spin kicking the knight in the head and pinning his arms and legs with arrows.

"I've gotta hand it to ya, DA. Using arrows to pin and catch our targets is ingenious. And from the looks of it you've got quite a catch here. Say, aren't you the Vice Commander of the Knights?" Shiva said.

"..."

"I must say, seeing you here in person you're even more beautiful than the rumors and stories say."

"Piss off." Asuna finally said.

Feeling slightly offended by her comment, I walked up to her and backhanded her.

"Privileged bitch." I said.

"We've got the target and we should probably get back to the village." Shiva said.

"I'll find you. Both of you." Asuna said.

"I invite you to try, Ms. Asuna."

We turned around and made our way to the group.

"Did you find the girl?" I asked.

"No, we couldn't find her anywhere."

"Shame, I promised her she'd live. Oh well."

"You know, you deactivate your voice scrambler now."

"Oh, right... Hey, why didn't you cover your face up in front of the Vice Commander?"

"I'm not afraid to be who I am."

"So you're heading back to the village?"

"Yup, we've got to interrogate Creacher's man. You?"

"I've got to go back to PoH."

"Very well. Thank you Dark Assassin, for your assistance. Here's your reward, and if you ever want to return to the village, here's a corridor crystal keyed to the village. You're always welcome to Sinanju."

We shook hands and went our separate ways.