Disclaimer: Fang the Sniper and co. © Sega/Archie Comics
Azrael the Pigeon © Blank the Nobody
Chapter Twenty One
Past, Present, Future
:Been a while since I've heard from Vintage or Azrael. Wonder what those two are up to.:
A full two weeks had gone by since Fang had gotten back from the wilderness along with Bean. The first day he got back, Bayonet was happy to see him safe and sound once again after yet another mission. At first she didn't want to spend any time with him at all, but now she found herself trying to look after him constantly. She was perfectly fine with that though. Unlike Fang, who was having a hard time dealing with his own feelings, Bayonet was at peace with them. The Gunner knew why she cared so much, and was actually quite pleased with herself.
:Heh, better than being some self-centered bitch right?:
Bayonet was noticing Fang's change as well though. She actually found it cute that his brother had a crush on someone and the Gunner didn't mind at all that it was his target. It actually made it even cuter in Bayonet's eyes actually. Even though the Gunner herself wouldn't call herself the 'sentimental' type, she could still see that her brother was still growing up and was happy with the results so far.
:It's cute and I'm not going to stop him or anything. It's his choice anyways so I won't interfere.:
The Gunner smiled as she read an old poetry book in the city library. Bayonet enjoyed reading in her spare time, despite her somewhat tomboyish appearance around Bark, Bean and her brother Fang. She figured that a smart assassin was way better than a dead one any day. Some days she even took the time to read some war stories or just browse a few pages of an encyclopedia.
The scent of paper and musty carpet filled the air as Bayonet breathed calmly. Other people were in the library as well like most would expect and all of them were either reading or browsing for a book that suited their tastes. Her day so far consisted of waking up and heading to a coffee shop where she read the latest newspaper, she then went to the gym to work out before finally entering the library.
"Mind if I take a seat here, lass?" asked a familiar, gruff Scottish voice.
She looked up and away from her reading to see a very familiar face standing next to her table. Azrael Alphonse the Fifth managed to give a slight smile as he looked down at her, no cigarette in his mouth since the library was a no smoking zone. Bayonet returned the smile. It had been a couple of months since the two had seen each other, but despite this, Bayonet felt fairly comfortable with the pigeon around. That feeling of deep familiarity then flared up in Bayonet and yet again she felt like she had known Azrael like a real friend instead of a mysterious benefactor inviting her into his team.
"Sure, thing." replied Bayonet with a smile.
:He's looking a bit more lively today.:
He nodded before sliding the seat out and sitting down next to his teammate. Azrael then propped his feet up onto the table while putting both hands behind the head of the seat. The gray pigeon leaned back in his seat and relaxed even though he didn't have a book to read. His attire was different compared to what he wore the day that Bayonet met him. Instead of his green jacket, black tank top, and gray cargo pants, he wore a gray trench coat over a black suit, tie and even a pair of shiny leather shoes.
"So how are things with you?" asked Azrael in his gruff, Scottish accent.
"Fine, fine, not much has been going on. Just the normal asshole target from now and then." shrugged Bayonet as he seemed to find the pigeon's attire familiar even though it was the first time she had seen him dressed up like that.
:There it is again, that feeling of familiarity. Why? This is the second time in my entire life seeing him.:
Azrael nodded. "Hmmmm, anything . . . interesting pop up?" he then asked, his eyes shifting over to look at Bayonet with a curious glint in his eyes.
:What the hell is he talking about?:
Bayonet's eyebrow rose up from the odd question and she closed her book. She could just tell that Azrael was looking for something in Bayonet's mind, but she just couldn't tell what. What she found funny about it though was the fact that his prodding around was very obvious to her. Apparently, the pigeon's intelligence gathering skills were very, very low.
"Nooooo, why?" asked Bayonet curiously.
Azrael just released a disappointed sigh before taking his feet off of the table and getting up. He quickly dusted himself off before placing both hands into his pockets. There was a disappointed look in his eyes as he motioned for her to get up.
"Alright, we've gotta talk." he said seriously. "If you were planning on checking out any books, I'd advise that you do that now." said the pigeon before walking out of the library. "Meet me in the alleyway to the side of the library."
As the pigeon walked away, Bayonet was left with a confused look on her face. She could just tell that there was something bugging Azrael and this just made her wonder why. The weasel then got out of her seat and grabbed two of the books she had brought with her to the table before walking over to the counter and checking them out.
:He seems soooo . . . dunno, on edge I guess. Hmmmmm, wonder why.:
After finally checking out her two books Bayonet just walked out of the library and over to where the alleyway was. She walked into it alley to find Azrael leaning up against a wall and smoking a cigarette. Bayonet giggled at the sight of the smoking pigeon, since she figured that he couldn't a couple of minutes without a smoke. Seeing him smoke though made the Gunner feel a bit awkward though. She breathed in a lungful of the gray toxins in an act of secondhand smoking and felt like she had done this before.
:Déjà vu.:
"Alright lass, I know, I'm easy to read when I'm trying to get information, you've said it before." said Azrael, shifting his gaze over to her. :When did I say that?: "But I can tell when you're lying." he then said before shifting his weight off of the wall he was leaning on. "What do you remember about me?" he then asked seriously.
Hearing the question brought a confused and bewildered look onto the weasel's face. She did have to admit that there were some things about Azrael that did seem familiar though.
"Well, I dunno, but I feel really, ummmm, comfortable around you for some reason." answered the Gunner honestly with a shrug. "It's like, we're really close friends or something even though this is only our second time meeting each other."
Azrael dug into his pocket and fished around. "Hmmmmm, guess it's coming back then, slowly, but it sure as hell is coming back." he muttered under his breath before taking something out of his pocket. "Catch." he then said before tossing an odd knife at her.
Out of pure reflex, Bayonet caught the blade instantly. But right as her hand wrapped around the blade, a flood of images burst into her mind. She clutched her head as the income of images were too much for her to take in at one time. Among the flood of images, she could pick out a few odd ones. One was a picture of her standing on a seaside cliff having a laugh with Azrael, another was her firing a strange weapon with Azrael at her back, she could also see one where she was hugging a white weasel-cat hybrid of sorts who had a surprised look on his face and another image with her plunging a strange knife into the heart of some crystal made monstrosity.
Bayonet then collapsed onto her knees as the images subsided. She panted heavily as beads of sweat slowly dropped off of her forehead.
"Wh-what the fuck was that!" yelled Bayonet, looking over at Azrael with a shocked and angry look on her face. "I-I . . . I saw you! And Me! Together! And-and, that weasel-cat hybrid!" she stammered, trying to make sense of what she had seen.
The pigeon walked over to Bayonet and knelt down besides her before picking up the knife he had tossed her. Bayonet finally got a better look at the knife and her jaw dropped at the sight of it. The hilt of the knife was black with a purple rune embedded into the bottom while the blade was actually made up of a very thin, light purple crystal like material that was a bit hazy to see through. What also seemed odd about the knife was that there seemed to be two tiny clamps on the handle for some weird reason.
:It looks weird, I mean, it actually looks like . . . like . . . a bayonet.:
"This seem familiar to you lass?" asked Azrael curiously as he helped Bayonet to her feet.
"N- . . ." she observed it even more and she did feel connection with it. "Yes, actually." she finally answered.
A smile curled onto Azrael's beak. "Take it then." he said simply.
She turned to him with a look of disbelief on her face. The first time she touched the knife it gave her a massive headache and granted her some views into the past. Bayonet did want to learn more about the blade however. She gulped in anticipation before slowly bringing her hand closer to the blade.
:This thing is connected to me somehow. If I want to figure out why, then I'm going to have to dig deeper then.:
Her hand then wrapped around the handle of the blade and right on contact, her mind flashed with another handful of forgotten memories.
The sound of someone inhaling on a cigarette filled the air before the sound of the exhale came. Bayonet could smell the cigarette smoke and she coughed.
"Time . . ." stated Azrael dully with another small cloud of smoke blowing out of his mouth.
Both Bayonet and the pigeon stood at the edge of a seaside cliff overlooking the placid waves of the ocean. The sound of waves lapping up against the rocks under them filled the air as a flock of birds squawked by. Ahead, the two could see the sun setting on the horizon, casting an orange tone over the once blue sky. Azrael took his cigarette out of his mouth before slightly tapping it to get the burnt up tobacco off of it and placing it back in his mouth.
"We've all heard it before. 'Time flows like a river' and all that daft shit." sighed the pigeon as the two continued to stare out at the ocean.
"Yep." replied Bayonet, just as depressed as Azrael.
It was the end of their journey together and they could both feel the memories slowly slipping away. Neither of them wanted this, but they didn't have a choice in the matter. They were told that only through sheer will and by some miracle would they remember, but that was a very small chance.
"I want to change it, prevent this from happening so we could stay together." said the pigeon as his eyes scanned the horizon.
"Heh, if you changed it, I would've killed you." joked Bayonet with a tiny smirk on her face.
Azrael laughed a little as well. "Doesn't matter lass. Hopefully something would've changed and the bloody angels would've decided to let us be. Hell, I'd take anything just to remember." said the pigeon before taking the cigarette out of his mouth and stomping it out.
Bayonet sighed again as she drew her knees up to hug her legs in a last ditch effort of comforting herself.
Slowly, but surely, their memories were disappearing, leave only blank spaces longing to be filled.
"We'd better say our goodbyes, lass." said Azrael before placing both hands into his pockets.
"Yeah." answered the Gunner before getting to her feet and looking at Azrael. "Well, it was nice meeting you Azrael Alphonse the Fifth." she said, managing to smile.
The pigeon nodded before returning the smile. "Likewise, Nic the Weasel." he said.
The memory faded away and Bayonet's eyes shot open. She found herself in Azrael's arms still in the alleyway where she had been before. There was a worried look on the pigeon's face as he helped her up. Bayonet felt a bit lightheaded from the memory and she rubbed her head to ease the pain.
"You alright lass?" asked Azrael, the worried look on his face still managing to break his normally serious expression.
She nodded. "W-we knew each other?" she asked, looking up at the pigeon with a bewildered look on her face.
Azrael released a relieved sigh. "And so the memory are coming back eh?" he chuckled before taking another cigarette out of his pocket and sticking it in his mouth. The pigeon then took out a silver zippo lighter and ignited it with a flick of his wrist before finally lighting his cigarette.
"Not all of them." answered Bayonet before finally regaining her composure. "But, those memories . . ." she trailed off. "Why did I forget in the first place?" she asked.
Azrael placed his hands in his pockets again. "Sorry, lass, but even I can't remember." he answered with a shrug. "Whatever it was, must've been bloody important though." said the pigeon still in his gruff Scottish accent.
Bayonet then raised the knife up. "And this?" she then asked, the feeling of the knife feeling very comfortable in her hand.
Again, Azrael shrugged. "I'm just as stumped as you are lass." he answered. "All I know is that it's yours." he added.
:Mine?:
Her gaze then drifted back onto the blade and she quickly found herself twirling the blade around in her hand. It felt incredibly familiar just to do the simplest thing with the blade and it actually felt quite good. She then tossed it up into the air and caught it with a quick flick of the wrist and she could just feel the slight amounts of power coming from it. Azrael watched her with great intrigue since he found it a bit humorous that Bayonet felt so connected to the blade.
"Soooooo, we know each other, and we just forgot?" asked Bayonet, trying to piece things together in her head.
"Aye." replied Azrael before taking another deep breath from his cigarette. "But, seeing that we beat the odds to even remember who the hell each other are means some progress I suppose." chuckled the pigeon, finding some hope in his situation.
After she learned the truth about them knowing each other, Bayonet had a reason to smile. Now, there was no more reason for doubt. The evidence was there that they knew each other and now it would only take some time until everything would be revealed to the two. Bayonet quickly put the knife away and smiled at the pigeon before giggling a little under her breath. She could just tell that the story behind her and Azrael would be an interesting and this just made her excited.
"Good," said the Gunner. "But is this why you asked me to join your team?" she then asked curiously.
He shook his head. "At the time, no. I just had a hunch you'd be good, never would've thought it went much deeper than that." answered the pigeon. "Hell, I only started getting these odd notions a couple of months ago." he admitted.
Both of them shared a laugh and it felt like their forgotten old times.
Before either of them could say another word, an electronic ringtone went off and Azrael looked at Bayonet with a curious expression on his face. The Gunner then blushed in an embarrassed manner until she finally reached over and took out a purple cell phone.
"Ummm, sorry." she said to Azrael before flipping the cellphone open. "Hel-"
"NIC!" screamed a panicked voice on the other side.
Bayonet instantly recognized the voice and her eyes grew wide in shock. "Digit! What's wrong!" she asked in a worried tone.
"G.U.N.! The found me and they- hey! Fuck you!" yelled Digit in a distracted tone as the sound of gunfire cracked on Digit's side of the conversation. "Come on!" yelled Digit as the sound of his phone hitting the ground sounded. "I'm gonna prove to you that I'm not some fucking pushover!" yelled the Livewire from the other side of the conversation.
The ground underneath Azrael and Bayonet shook as the lightbulbs in the streetlamps on the streets suddenly blew out simultaneously. A mile away from them, a large explosion went off causing some of the civilians to run away in sheer terror. Azrael and Bayonet then looked at each other with shocked expressions before dashing off towards the source of the explosion.
Thirty Minutes Earlier
~Wonder what kind of new flavor I should put in my energy drinks.~
A green Chihuahua walked through the sidewalks of Station Square, minding his own business. Digit had two earbuds in his large Chihuahua ears and was listening to some techno music as he walked and he had a can of green energy drink in hand. The Livewire went out for a normal stroll through the city just to buy some more ingredients for his energy drinks, but despite being a sort of tech geek, Digit also had an eye like a chef and all of the ingredients back at the grocery stores weren't ripe enough for his taste.
~Damn, low quality fruit. I should just fucking build a device to harvest and grow my own ingredients . . . that's a fucking genius idea! I'll draw up the blueprints later!~
Digit smiled at the idea and continued on walking down the sidewalk. His mind was always bustling with idea, but most of the time he was actually too lazy to put it into fruition. When he did get to his ideas though, they turned out brilliant and always to the letter. Every time he built something, he aimed for perfection and in his own opinion, he always seemed to achieve just that.
~And one day, I'm going to take down the fucker Tails.~
The very thought of having the two tailed fox's blood on his hands, brought a devious grin onto the chihuahua's face. His hatred for Tails the Fox was strong and being compared to him increased his anger tenfold.
He turned and walked into a car parking garage since it was a shortcut to an entrance to Bayonet's base. His music continued to pump through his ear buds as he walked, but despite the fact that it was noon with normal civilians walking outside the parking garage, Digit still felt disturbed by something.
~What the hell is this feeling?~
Before he could take another step, he could feel a cold blade being pressed up against his neck, making him stop in his tracks. Digit then felt his earbuds being plucked out of his ears and dropped to the ground as a devious giggle filled the air behind him.
"Alright geekwad, you're going to be a good boy and surrender." ordered a snippy female voice from behind him. "Then, you're going to co-"
The sound of a gun cocking filled the air. "I'm sorry miss." said the Chihuahua as a large double barreled pistol was lifted up underneath his assailant's chin. A devious smirk curled onto the Livewire's lips. "I'm afraid you chose the wrong motherfucker to try and kidnap today."
Alright, first off, Bayonet and Azrael's story will NOT be explained here. Instead, after Shoot 'Em Up is finished, I will make the prequel explaining their relationship. So expect more gunning action except with Fang's sister! Also. Digit's not some pushover. He makes and uses guns for the hell of it. Did you really think he' just surrender without a fight?
Find out next chapter
Please Review!