Assassin's Night:
I don't know if it was because I had just gotten in the bed or something else, but my eyes snapped open at the noise. If it had been someone from the house, they would have talked to me before heading to bed. I didn't move, but I cased what I could see in the dim light of my room, particularly trying to see where I had discarded my shirt.
But there was no one there. Not that I could see at least. But I knew what I had heard, and there was defiantly someone on the room. I hoped to god that it wasn't one of the others, because they would not hear the end of it in the morning.
I knew it wasn't any of the other family members the moment I saw a red flicker just above my field of sight. Tazia had no reason to be here, or draw out her Flames. As the Flame receded, I rolled out of bed, grabbing for Kame, who was still in my pocket.
It was a good thing I moved, because a Storm knife sunk into my pillow where my head had just been. I looked up to see who was holding the knife, and I realized why I didn't see him until it was almost too late.
He was dressed in complete black, just like the two from this afternoon. He looked over at me as the knife started to deteriorate the pillow. We stared at each other for what seemed forever before he made the first move.
Without the pillow around it any more, he jumped at me with knife in hand. I grabbed Kame's box and pulled out my hand to block the knife, quickly activating my gauntlet. I was getting a lot more used to using it now.
The two collided, his knife being deflected away, but not without chipping the metal a bit, sending the pieces into my face. I dropped Kame's box into my other hand and quickly released him. Without even a word to him, I felt the shield he made earlier rest on my arm.
Just in time too, because the man was coming back with a blazing knife, no attempts to even hide the light of the Flames. But what was curious was the slight blue tinting it had. I don't know how I noticed such a minute detail, but a note was made nonetheless, because blue Flames meant Rain. And Rain meant slower reaction speed for me.
As the slash came in, I raised Kame to block, and used the momentum of the strike to carry the attack away. As Kame got out of the way and my attacker's arm was still blinding him from my moves, I punched him in the stomach with my gauntlet. This made him double over, giving me the perfect opportunity to ram his face in with Kame.
The scuffle couldn't have taken more than a minute, but I was gasping for air after I made sure the guy was unconscious. Kame reverted back to his tiny turtle self and looked up at me.
"You're staying out right now little buddy." I patted the turtle. He just smiled and I put him on my shoulder. I didn't know what to do with the guy, but one thing I did know to do was take any kind of ring he had. I hadn't had to do so before, but I remembered how the first men I had run into had freaked at the sight of mine, and I had seen what one could do to open a box. I didn't want to take the chance that this guy had one on him. I picked up his hands and found a simple ring, no gemstone, but just a simple plate with an eye with an X in it. What I found curious, however, was the Plexiglas covering over it. It seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever. I put it in my pocket and tied him up with the blankets off the bed. It might not stop him, but it would at least give me a signal to when he woke up.
With this guy taken care of, my thoughts turned to the rest of the family. Out of everyone, I was probably a low priority target. I was new and my only job was to be a punching bag, so if I got an assassin, it was more than likely Ryona and the others did as well.
I quietly slipped out of the room and knocked on Azzurra's door. I didn't hear anything, so I knocked a bit louder. I heard Azzurra grumbling as sheet's shuffled and she made her way across the room. She cracked the door open and saw me.
"What do you want Sanget? It's one in the morning." She groaned.
"Yeah, I know, and I just had someone try to kill me."
That snapped Azzurra to her senses. "What? When, how?" She hissed, keeping her voice low.
"Just now, he's unconscious in my room, but I don't know how long it'll stay like that."
"Why would someone try to assassinate you?"
"I don't think it's just me. I think everyone's in trouble."
"Then raise the alarm you idiot!"
"I don't know how."
"Well that's just great." Azzurra grumbled and contemplated. "Hold on for a second." She held up a finger as she closed the door. A second later, she opened the door entirely wearing a pair of shorts and a light shirt, along with her claws. "We should head to Ryona first and then notify the others."
"Good plan." I nodded.
"So… do you know the way to Ryona's room?"
"Not in the slightest, but I have an idea. Come on." We both headed down the hall and turned right. I might not have an idea where her room is, but if what Ryona said before was right, then thinking about it might just get us there. There were a few minutes of silence as Azzurra and I made our way down the halls, making sure that no one else was around to spot us. But after that few minutes of quiet meandering, Azzurra was getting frustrated.
"Would you please inform me what your great plan is?" She asked irritably.
"I don't think I have to." I said, as I inexplicably turned left and stood in front of the first door.
"Why not?"
"Because we're here." I said as I knocked a few times. I didn't hear anything this time either, but as I was about to knock again, the door cracked open and Ryona was glaring at me.
"Do you know what time it is?"
"Do you know how much danger we're in?"
"Danger?" Ryona's mood was instantly changed like Azzurra's was. Ryona widened the door and I could see another man passed out in her room. She looked between me and Azzurra, noting the claws and gauntlet. "I thought this was one of Reborn's training exercises."
"If it is, we need to tell him to cut it out. I nearly had a knife through my head. Who's that?" I pointed to the collapsed man.
"Like I said, training. I don't know who it is, but Reborn does something like this every time he's here."
"Now's not the time for idle chit chat you two, we have a real threat here." Azzurra berated us. "Ryona, does this place have any kind of security system?"
"Sort of. The Mist field should keep most people out, but those who do get in are tracked."
"Good, so where can we see this tracking from?"
"From my study."
"You have a study?"
"I know, I had the same reaction." I consoled Azzurra. "Ryona, does that guy have a ring?"
"I hadn't bothered to check, why?"
"Just do it, now." Ryona didn't say a word. She just went back into the room and checked the guy's hands. She pulled something off and brought it back.
"He had this on him, but I don't recognize it." Ryona held out a ring. It looked exactly like the one I pulled off of my attacker. "What do you think it means?"
"I think it means we have an organized strike on us right now." I concluded.
"What if it isn't?" Azzurra asked. "What if Ryona's right and Reborn is just testing you two?"
"Even if it is, it's still not a bad idea to alert everyone." Ryona said. "Hold on for a second you two."
Ryona grasped the ring close and an orange Sky Flame flickered over her forehead of all places. After an awkward moment, Ryona opened her eyes.
"Okay, dad knows and he's mobilizing the Primo Famiglia. We need to wake up the other four and convene in my study. Once we're there, we can come up with a further plan of attack."
I wanted to question how she just talked with her dad, but now wasn't the time.
"So what are we going to do about him?" Azzurra pointed to the unconscious man.
"He won't be waking up until sunrise." Ryona said as she closed the door. "I made sure of that."
I also wanted to question that, but now really didn't seem like the time for that.
"Come on you two." Ryona waved as we headed off.
As we collected everyone, they all seemed to come out in a lot different moods than Azzurra and Ryona had. Except for Tazia, she had the same reaction for all of a second before she saw Ryona. Katsumi came without complaint, but rubbing her eyes in protest. Hotaka was awake the instant he opened the door, and Kirata met us outside of his room before we even got there.
I was beginning to wonder if Ryona and Azzurra had the right idea, thinking that this was merely a test set out by Reborn. But if it was, then the way he did it made no sense whatsoever. None of the other's had attackers, and we hadn't met anyone else in the halls. And if this was only a test for the boss and newcomers, then why hadn't Azzurra been attacked as well?
We got to the study without any sightings and we all made our way over to the computers. Ryona turned on the station and the Windows 10 logo popped up along with its startling boot up gong, which quickly made me cover up my ears from the sudden spike of sound.
"Baby." Kirata smiled.
"Well excuse me for being jumpy after ten minute of near silence." I snapped back.
"Quiet you two." Ryona glared at us. "Let's see if anyone else is in the house." With a few point and clicks, the other seven monitors were split into quarters and gave various points through and around the mansion.
"This is such a waste of time." Tazia sighed. "If there really were people on the premises, then the alarms would have gone off, and now we would see them. But there's no one on any of these." She waved for emphasis.
"I dunno, something seems off." Kirata said as he examined the screens. "Mind if I try something Ryona?"
"Be my guest, just don't wreck anything." Ryona said as she got out of the chair, letting Kirata take her place. Kirata stretched his fingers, making a small puff of Mist Flame come out. He then placed both hands on either side of the screen, instantaneously consuming the thing in Flames, spreading down the cables and into the wall. Soon, each camera's video was shaded in the indigo color of Mist Flames. It was then Kirata seemed to struggle a bit, his arms were trembling and sweat was forming.
All of a sudden, the tint on the camera's snapped, and the original colors of the dark mansion came back, but there was now at least twelve men running through the mansion, and even more on far out surveillance.
"Whew." Kirata sighed as he sat back. "They have one good Mist user, those were some tricky castings."
"What did you just do?" Hotaka asked.
"Someone coated their people in complex Mist so we wouldn't be able to see their operatives on camera. Of course, I'm better." Kirata smiled smugly.
"Good for you, now let's get them out of here." Tazia said as she headed to the door.
"Not so fast Tazia." Ryona said. "Note how many of them there are."
I took a look at the screens, watching as the group split up continuously, just to run into each other again.
"So what? There are twelve of them." Tazia shrugged.
"Enough to assassinate the Primo and Secondo families, don't you think?"
"Really? Which one of you guys got attacked?" Kirata asked. Ryona just looked down at him, and I stupidly raised my hand. "Well then, we've got a slight numerical problem." Everyone gave Kirata a questioning look. "Because this gives us a count of fifteen." Kirata began tapping on the keyboard and three of the camera views changed to three bedrooms.
"There's a camera in my room?" I exclaimed as I grabbed the back of the computer's chair.
"Please, there's a camera in everyone's room." Kirata waved. "But that's not the point. This is my room." Kirata pointed to the upper left screen. "This is Ryona's, and this is Sanget's. And in each one," he zoomed in each screen. "We have an unconscious assassin."
It was true. Mine was still tied up in the blankets I left him in, Ryona's was lying unconscious on the floor, and the one in Kirata's was simply standing there.
"But then that gives us, uh, fifteen?" Hotaka counted quickly.
"Right, and there are fourteen of us, Primo and Secondo families. Why the extra one?"
"Maybe two for one person?" Katsumi suggested.
"Then why not two for everyone?" Azzurra asked. "Why not just make this a full on raid?"
"Because no one's stupid enough to try that." Tazia stated. "If someone were to openly attack the Neo Vongola, they would make more than half of the mafia underworld their enemies."
"Not if they succeeded in the attack." Ryona said forebodingly.
"But they still went with an assassination attempt." I pointed out.
"But what bothers me, is even with the extra person, they accounted for me." Azzurra said, gaining everyone's attention. "No one should even know I'm here. Or if they did, why I'm here. If this really is an assassination on the Neo Vongola as a whole, how did they know?"
"Maybe they didn't." I said. "I mean, our rooms are right across from each other, but they didn't send anyone to attack you."
"You're forgetting one thing though." Kirata pointed out. "The Mist Redirection System is still active. To them, they just found one door, not both."
"But if it's still working, why aren't they getting kicked out?" Tazia asked.
"I think it has to do with this." Kirata pulled a ring out of his pocket. It was just like the one Ryona and I found on the guys we took out. "It doesn't seem like much at first, but this cover is defiantly a Flame regulator."
"That small?" Katsumi asked as she took the ring from Kirata. "But don't those things, like, take a large, concentrated explosion to make?"
"How do you even get a large, concentrated explosion?" I asked.
"We managed to." Ryona said. "Well, dad and the Primo family did, along with a few others. It's how we were able to save Reborn's and the other Arcobaleno's lives. But Katsumi is right, it took a large group to make these once, making multiples would attract some attention."
"Not if you diminished their purpose." Kirata said as he took the ring back. "The original regulators were meant to keep the third Tri-ni-set Set active without sacrificing lives. These are merely meant to sustain an injected Flame for however long the ring is worn and activated."
"And you learned this how?" Ryona asked.
"I had time to experiment before you guys came by." Kirata shrugged.
"But this gives me an idea." Hotaka said.
"And what's that?" Tazia asked as she rolled her eyes.
"The fifteenth member is their regulator."
This garnered an unprecedented silence. Since the moment I had met this guy he had been the happy, go-lucky guy. The guy you went to to have a laugh with and waste time with. He always gave the impression of thoughtlessness. And here he was, making a left field proclamation.
"Think about it. If those rings only work for however long it's active, what if someone were to slip up and diminish their Flame enough to deactivate the ring? They would get kicked out faster than anyone would notice. So they have to have him there to keep them on in an emergency."
"Hotaka, think about what that implies." Katsumi cautioned.
"I know exactly what that implies. We have a traitor in the family."