Warriors: The New Era.

Chapter Twenty Eight: The Assassin's Game.

Back in the Present, Lionblaze is still in the clutches of Mapleshade and the Assassin. And a mysterious spy lurks in the shadows...


Jayfeather scowled, as the families fighters gathered in the Foxcave under Poppyfrost's orders. Fersnong, Icecloud, Ivypool and Dovewing, Sparkpelt, Breezepelt, and himself were standing in front og Poppyfrost and a screen.

Poppyfrost pointed at the screen. Her left hand still had black burning all over it, but she wore a black glove over it, hiding her injuries. It didn't hurt anymore, but the skin was still regrowing. She needed some time. "Due to Fernsong's search, we have a location and a plan."

"What's the plan?" Sparkpelt rose her hand timidly.

Poppyfrost pointed to the drawing of the hospital "The old hospital has four main exits. The front door, Rock's old tunnels, parking garage, and the helipad. Mapleshade has to have Lionblaze near sedatives, because of his strength, so it's safe to assume he is somewhere in the severe injuries wing. That would place it approximately on the top floor, because severe injuries are usually moved via helicopter. Ground Team will go through the front door, being the main distraction. Tunnel team will sneak through and surround the enemy when the try to take out ground team. One team will up and camp out in the parking garage, and group up with the rest of us. We will lead one final assault on the severe injuries wing. But, by the time they mobilize their final defenses, we will have already pushed through with brute force. Any objections?"

No one objected. It was a solid plan. But...

"What about the helipad?" Jayfeather asked "You listed that as one of our possible exits. If it is the closest to where my brother is, why not use that in the first place. Catch them by surprise?"

"The thought did cross my mind, but they have spread themselves to close together. We need to divide and conquer."

Jayfeather huffed, as he folded his arms.

"How do we know how many enemies there will be?"

"We don't. Who we know for sure will be there is Mapleshade and The Assassin. If anyone else turns up, it would be news to me," Poppyfrost shrugged.

Breezepelt folded his arms.

"Ground Team will have to be able to take a lot of hits, and provide a decent distraction long enough for Sewer team to catch up. Ground Team will be Fernsong, Jayfeather, and Myself. Tunnel team will be Breezepelt, Ivypool and Dovewing. Garage will be Sparkpelt, Icecloud and Jac-" She had to stop herself from saying Jack's name on reflex "That's it. That's the teams. We move at dawn. Rest up."

As everyone moved out of the Foxcave, Poppyfrost grabbed Sparkpelt by her shoulder, keeping her from leaving "Gather Berrynose and Cinderheart. I need to speak with them real quick."

Sparkpelt nodded and went upstairs to gather said people. Poppyfrost stayed behind. She had no questions of Sparkpelt's loyalty, she knew her reasons for fighting against The Forces of Darkness that threatened their lives. Besides, she was by Poppyfrost's side so often that it would be impossible for her to reveal any information to the enemy.

Her attention was gathered when the two yopics of her conversation came into view, entering the foxcave in wonder. The two weren't very brave or skilled. But Berrynose had the heart of a hero, and Cinderheart's tenacity was of praise. Berrynose scratched his cheek scar "Well, what do you want with us?"

Poppyfrost smirked.

"You're the helipad team."

Cinderheart raised a brow in confusion "Wait, I thought you said-"

"What I said was a mere ploy," Poppyfrost revealed "You two will be sneaking from the top, wheeling Lionblaze out on a gurney. You're gonna have to throw him off the roof, but he'll survive. It's Lionblaze, he's practically Kirishima."

Berrynose rose a brow while Cinderheart snickered "Yeah. I guess he is. I always saw him as an All Might. You know, big guy, bellowing voice..."

"Who?" Berrynose asked.

"Characters from an Anime," Poppyfrost shrugged "Now listen. The reason I didn't tell anyone this is because...well we have a spy."

The two's faces paled. Cinderheart spoke up first "A-are you sure?"

"It makes sense," Berrynose snarled "How Rock has been evading all our searches. I did find it suspicious how Lionblaze was caught unawares like that. Ever since the assault two years ago, Foxleap placed heat sensors and camears across the woods. Any human that shows up, we'd know. They weren't watching. They were told. But why us? We are of no help to you."

"Berrynose, you have been taking Boxing lessons from Breezepelt, and Cinderheart is a purple belt in Karate," Poppyfrost pointed out.

Cinderheart scratched the back of her head "Yeah back in junior high when it was cool..."

"THE POINT IS," Poppyfrost rose her voice and got them back on topic "You two are the most weak and helpess out of us all, so they'd never suspect you two in the fray."

"Gee, your confidence is so reassuring," Cinderheart grumbled.

"No, we can do this," Berrynose grinned "We can save him. So as long as we don't tell the others. Wait why tell us we have spy? Wouldn't that make the spy know were on to them if it was one of us?"

"Is it?" Poppyfrost reached for her sidearm.

Berrynose held his hands up "What?! No, not me! Cinderheart?"

Cinderheart shook her head furiously, making eye contact with Poppyfrost the whole time.

"Because, if the spy is who I think it is," Poppyfrost grinned "Then this rescue will be a whole lot harder."


Lionblaze laid fast asleep, while Mapleshade watched over him.

"Ah such a handsome face," she swooned, as the Assassin walked in, his mechanical breathing giving himself away "Leave the boy alone. He is not to be touched. Remember who the real target is. He's just bait."

"Right," Mapleshade scowled "The Stranger. Honestly, you act as if I am a child who needs babysitting!"

"Don't you? Prove me wrong..." The assassin growled.

BOOM.

Mapleshade snarled "Don't tell me."

"They're here. Quicker then anticpated. I expected at least a month of research."

"Unless...he was tracked!" Mapleshade snarled.

"How? We searched the boy!"

"We'll have to sort this out later. For now, DEAL with them!" Mapleshade attacked.


Jayfeather growled "COME ON OUT YE BASTARDS! I'LL GUT AND FLAY YOU LIKE FISH AND BUCKS!"

Fernsong sighed "Must you be so angry right now? It can cloud your judgement."

"Do not appall me when I'm furious, Nephew," Jayfeather warned.

Poppyfrost gripped her sword tightly "Jayfeather remember, we have to distract not-"

"SHUT UP!" Jayfeather roared, eyes glowing with power "COME ON OUT MAPLESHADE! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE! TOO SCARED TO FACE US?!"

"Or perhaps she doesn't think you're worth her time."

Poppyfrost snarled.

The Mechanical Assassin stepped into the hallway, a small handgun in each hand. His footsteps whirred with mechanical noises. His breathing was very machine like, and he chuckled softly, in a distorted voice "I'm afraid this as far as you can go. Jayfeather how you've grown. Not quite the skinny emo boy who came to challenge me so long ago. And Poppyfrost! I would have hoped you'd taken my note to heart, and left while you had the chance."

"Note, what note?!" Jayfeather demanded.

Poppyfrost shook her head "It doesn't matter. Later, Jayfeather."

"The only face I do not seem to recall is dear old Goldie here. What's your name, boy?"

Fernsomg said nothing, raising his fists. Jayfeather's hair exploded in waves of power, and Poppyfrost twirled her sword.

"And here I thought we could be civilised," the Assassin sighed.

He lifted his guns as quick as a viper, and opened fire on the trio. Fernsong tanked the bullets like a beast and Jayfeather put up a wall of psychic energy to protect himself and Poppyfrost from the bullets.

Jayfeather dashed forward with a flying kick, which the Assassin ducked under. He grabbed Jayfeather by the hair and slammed him back down on the ground, before lifting his boot up and smashing Jayfeather's forehead.

As Jayfeather groaned in pain, Fernsong dashed forward, eager to pulverize this man.

The Assassin reached for his belt and pulled out a smooth black dagger. He held it in a reverse grip, and just as Fernsong went to grapple him, he smoothly dodged and sliced through Fernsong's back. Fernsong stopped and turned around, smirking "Was that supposed to hurt?"

"No, merely slow you down."

Fernsong suddenly felt woozy, and stumbled to the ground, suddenly tired "W-wha-"

"I coated my blade with a paralytic used to tranquilize elephants. I figured I'd have to use a couple hits, but apparently its potency is stronger then I expected."

Poppyfrost rushed forward, blade pointed at the Assassin. The Assassin deflected the blade with his dagger, and blocked an overhead swing.

Poppyfrost struck again, thrusting to The Assassin's left. But he blocked it with extreme precision. He pushed her back, swinging to Poppyfrost's left, who ducked under and punched him in the head with her free hand. She instantly regretted it, squealing in pain as she was sure her knuckles were broken.

The Assassin took advantage of this and attempted a gut wound, but Poppyfrost leapt back wards at the last second, shaking the pain out of her left hand.

He took another step forward, but Poppyfrost swung the sword to keep her distance. The Assassin ducked under the swing and attempted another gut stab, but Poppyfrost rolled to the side, jumped off the wall, and knee'd the Assassin in the helmet.

The Assassin grunted in pain, the helmet warping the voice, and he collapsed onto one knee, hand to his head. His coated dagger flew and slid across the floor.

Poppyfrost fared no better. Her knee felt like shit, and she clutched it in pain and groaned "Shit..."

Jayfeather had already recovered from the head injury, and grabbed the coated dagger. He attempted to slice the Assassin's neck, but The Mechanical Monster dodged and slammed shoved Jayfeather away.

While Poppyfrost rolled the floor, clutching her knee, Jayfeather released a flurry of combos on the Assassin who perfectly dodged or blocked all of them. Jayfeather's fists coated themselves in a blue fire, and he punched the Assassin square in the gut. He slammed his other fist down on the Assassin's helmet so hard, that the helmet cracked and one of the lenses covering his eyes broke and flew off of the mask.

A bright amber eye looked up at Jayfeather, the Assassin's right eye masked by the black lenses. The surrounding skin was white and pale, his eyes reacted harshly to the light.

"YoU shOULD not hAVe doNE that, JAYFeaTHeR..." His true voice emerged, with hints of the warped voice overlapping it. The two voices combined to give a meancing aura that waved off of his voice "You MAde mE angRY..."

Jayfeather was about to strike, but when the man spoke, he faltered.

He knew that voice. There was some familiarity to it. But the broken and haywire voice modulator made it hard to pinpoint. The voices overlapped the other, hiding the user, and revealing him.

Where had he heard that voice before?!

While Jayfeather hesitated, The Assassin brought his metal hand up and slammed it down on Jayfeather's skull, hard.

Jayfeather stumbled back, eyes popping out of there sockets. He lifted his hand up as if he was pointing something out in front of him "I'll have...the deep fried...chicken...ma'am."

The Assassin chuckled before kicking the man to the ground.

Jayfeather was out.

The red head burst up and swung wildly at the Assassin, who pulled another knife out from his boot, and countered with a slash of his own, cutting Poppyfrost in the upper arm.

Poppyfrost began to panic, but when she didn't start to feel drowsy, she came to the conclusion that this knife had no such paralytic in it. She grimaced, and rose her blade up. She swung the sword to The Assassin's legs, who jumped over it and brought the dagger downwards, to which Poppyfrost reflexively dropper her sword and held the dagger up from piercing her skull.

With both of her hands pushing upwards, the Assassin still had enough strength in one arm to overpower her and bring the dagger down slowly. He grabbed the dagger with both hands, pushing Poppyfrost down to her knees. Poppyfrost pushed off with all her might, but a quick padded kneecap to her face made her drop to the floor, on her back. The Assassin climbed on top her, pushing the blade deeper and closer to her throat.

Poppyfrost gasped and squirmed, trying to push the blade away, but the Assassin was so much stronger then her. The blade penetrated her neck, and just as she was about to give way and let death take her. The Assassin was abrubtly pushed off by a brute of a man.

Fernsong had saved her life.

As Popyfrost wiped the blood off her neck, Fernsong, having used what little energy he had left, collapsed back to the ground, paralyzed again.

Poppyfrost jumped back and grabbed her sword, keeping the blade close to her chest. The Assassin glared at her, his amber eye finally revealing what little emotions the man felt under the mask. He dashed forward, scooping his knife off the ground and roaring, the noise sounding more inhumane and less machinelike at the same time. Poppyfrost scowled and sprinted forward, blocking a wild swing from the Assassin's left, and slamming the basket of her sword into the man's neck as he stumbled back, gasping for air. She sweeped her right leg in a circle and hit the Assassin in the knee, to no effect. It was like kicking concrete.

The Assassin scoffed, thrusting his blade into Poppyfrost's shoulder. She dodged and kicked him square in the chest. The Assassin scowled, swinging his dagger so strongly, that Poppyfrost's sword flew down and out of her hands. He stepped onto the sword, keeping it from her grasp.

Poppyfrost smirked, dragging her fist up to hit the Assassin across the chest. The Assassin didn't dodge, and her fist hit the metal breastplate. She screamed in pain again.

She sunk to her knees as One evil amber eye looked down on her as he gripped his dagger "I toLd yOu to ruN, POpPYfroSt."

She looked around for a soloution, but only found two meta-humans unconscious. Jayfeather grinned in his sleep "A large Root Beer too...sir..."

Poppyfrost grinned "I have better ideas then running. FERNSONG, NOW!"

The Assassin whipped his head around wildly, ready to block any sort of attack.

When his eyes rested on Fernsong still paralyzed, he realized his mistake. He turned around in time to see Poppyfrost with her sword pointing straight at him.

The Assassin wasn't quick enough to react, and the blade pierced through his chest. Blood coated the blade as it protruded from The Assassin's back.

Poppyfrost grinned "I win. You die..."

The Assassin looked down on the sword, and back up at her. He chuckled softly...

"Was that supposed to hurt?"

He headbutted Poppyfrost, who collapsed to the floor, moaning and wallowing in pain.

The Assassin grabbed the sword out of his chest, pulling it out quickly and throwing it on the ground.

Poppyfrost rubbed her head "Why...who are you?"

"No oNe of COnseQUence."

Poppyfrost growled "I have to know."

"Get used tO disappointment."

Poppyfrost's head sunk and hit the tile floor, as uncinciousness hit her in waves.


Breezepelt held the flashlight in front of him, beckoning the twins to follow.

As Breezepelt led the way, Dovewing and Ivypool stayed behind him, catching up.

"So, not one week of my return here, and we're already galivanting to save one of our own," Dovewing smirked.

Ivypool chuckled "Tis a strange life we live, no?"

"Very," Dovewing chuckled softly "I missed this...more then I'm willing to admit."

"So why did you leave?" Ivypool asked.

Dovewing shifted and looked uncomfortable to be here "I...I just wanted to leave, you know? I was sick of it. Sick of the powers, of the deaths, so I just decided to run from it. I wanted to live a...a normal life. But I guess this life chooses you..."

Ivypool nodded in understanding "Well, it's certainly better then running off to build a fashion empire like Hazeltail did."

"OMG, did she really?" Dovewing giggled.

Ivypool nodded "Yeah, she makes dresses and suits for a living now. They are kinda cool though. You should check them out online."

"She even has a website?"

"Well, Foxleap started it up, but yeah it's hers..." Ivypool respsonded for a random thought popped in her head "Hey do you...remember anything from the old timeline?"

"What timeline? What are you talking about?" Dovewing asked, suddenly all suspicious, but then her eyes widened "OH! You mean the one with Brokenstar? Yeah I know enough. Comes in dreams you know, plus Jay's Wing explained it to me and the rest of the Three."

Ivypool smirked "Well you remember back when Jayfeather was arrested by Bluestar, and all the crimes she listed off of us?"

"Hard to forget, yes," Dovewing nodded "Out of everyone she listed, me and you were clean. No crimes committed."

Ivypool swung her hips and grinned "That they know of..."

"Oh Lord, what did you do?" Dovewing asked.

Ivypool grinned "A lady never tells."

Dovewing rolled her eyes and looked at Breezepelt's back, as the man led them through the tunnels.

"Wait, Breezepelt you were arrested for drug charges right?" Ivypool asked.

"Why do you ask?" Breezepelt turned his head to glare at them.

"Curiosity."

Breezepelt sighed "In another life, yeah. Before I met all of you guys."

"Wait didn't Icecloud also have drug charges on her list?!" Dovewing asked Ivypool.

"Oh my God, that's right! Foxleap wouldn't let her go anywhere without supervision. Normally Foxleap is very lackadaisical with what we do but...man he loves his sister..."

"I wOUld hate TO interrupt, but I HaVE A Job to dO."

Breezepelt looked back in front of him just in time to see The Assassin step out of the shadows, holding someone hostage.

Sparkpelt.

The Assassin's amber eye looked at them furiously "Out of habit, I checked the parking garage for any NEw fighters. IT seEMs I was RigHT to do so. WhiLE Icecloud may have escaped my GRAsp, this one did NOT."

There was a gun to her head, as she whimpered "Uh..guys? You know when some people are hostage they put on a brave face and tell their friends to not listen? WELL I AM A COWARD, SO PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE!"

"ShUt UP!" The Assassin slammed the butt of the gun at her forehead and scowled "To think, I onCE trusTED you, Sparky."

Sparkpelt opened her eyes in confusion.

She knew that voice.

Before she could say anything about it, Her head was pulled back via her hair, and the assassin put the gun to her head "SurreNDER NOW, or i'LL KiLL HER!"

Breezepelt and the Twins grimaced.


IT'S CLIFFHANGER TIME!

Okay, so I dropped like a gazillion hints on The Assassin's identity. If I played my cards right, you suspect only ONE person. And it's a person I'll bet you all forgot.

Next chapter, will deal with the Helipad team trying to get Lionblaze out of there. So stay tuned!

Adios.