Assassination Part 1 Chapter 1.

Miniseries that I'm doing while Season 9 is still up in the air. Yes this is inspired by John Wick, because in the end they are supposed to be assassins after all. I wanted to try writing something to add more flavor to the characters and explore some types of genres that I haven't really tried before in my writing.

Note, this is going in the form of reminiscing, set during an off day between missions before the whole debacle with Mantle and everything happened.

'I'm going in.'

'What? No! You'll get killed!'

'Please, you think they can kill me?'

'I know they can kill you.'

'I don't care I'm going in.'

'NO!'

'Oh, I'm dead.'

'Told you. Great now I'm dead.'

With some time off from their huntsman work, the boys were sitting in their communally shared room playing video games. Kamina chucked the controller onto the bed, reclining onto the soft mattress with a groan. Jaye sighed at the boy, leaning against the side of the bed.

'Told you you'd die.' He said, rolling his eyes.

'And I relished in it.' The fox boy grinned. 'Whatever, it's just a game.'

'Ain't fun if you keep losing though.'

'I beg to differ.'

'What're you guys up to?' Yang called, appearing in the doorway. The boys glanced at her, waving the controllers at the blonde and her sister in the doorway.

'Gaming. Kamina keeps getting me killed cuz he's a retard.' The raven-haired boy complained, tossing the girl his controller. Yang snatched it out of the air, glancing at the game on the screen.

'A shooter on a console, really?'

'Eh, it's all I got. All my computers got blown up by assassins.' Jaye got up from his spot on the floor, stretching out his back. 'I guess most figured they couldn't beat me in a straight up fight, so they elected to set traps for me instead. I lost a real good gaming rig to one of those too.'

'Don't forget your laptops. Like three of them.' The fox boy chirped, and Jaye sighed.

'Yes, Kamina. I remember.' The boy cussed. 'Thank god I kept backups of all my data in drop caches.'

'It let you save your pictures of us too.' Kamina grinned, throwing an arm over the boy and earning himself an elbow. 'What, it's true.'

'Now that I think about it, you've never told us about your assassination attempts.' Blake said, appearing in the doorway with the ex-heiress in tow. 'We always took them as something that exists, but you never told us the details.'

'That is true.' Jaye said, making himself comfortable on his bunk. 'Wanna hear? There's quite a lot of them though, so you need to choose.'

'I want to hear about the time when you were on the run!' Ruby said, eyes nearly popping out of her head in excitement. 'You faked your death, running from killers and assassins to escape the life of crime you'd known for so long, leaving behind the woman you love ah! It's a wonderful story!'

'Thanks for reminding me about Indigo. Really. It's not like she died very recently or anything like that.'

'Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! Is this too soon?' Ruby whimpered, running to the boy with her arms outstretched. 'I'm sorry I didn't think about that!'

'Uh yeah it's okay.' He muttered awkwardly, patting the girl's head as she wrapped her arms around him. Yang gave him a smirk, and he glared at her over the girl's shoulder. 'Well alright then.' The boy raised an eyebrow at the smol girl who, despite her apology, was still clearly excited beyond anything. 'It's honestly not much of a story. Where do I start?'

The sounds of striking reverberated through the halls, the steady pounding broken only by the sounds of labored breathing. The chains rattled against the metal hook holding it in place as the bag shook under the force of the blows, practically bouncing off its metal restraints. Jaye let out a cry of anguish, slamming a spinning back kick into the bag and finally shattering the chains. It flew across the room, striking the opposing wall and crashing to the floor. He stood for a long moment, dripping with sweat, chest heaving as he glared at nothing in particular. Finally, he let his hands fall to his sides, dropping onto a nearby bench and taking a swig from his water bottle. He sat for a long moment, noticing but not acknowledging the woman by the door. Indigo heaved a small sigh, remaining in the doorway.

'You're working hard.' She said shortly, watching the boy as he brooded. Jaye ran a hand across his forehead, brushing away the sweat and grimacing again at the stone floor beneath.

'Yeah.'

'How're you feeling?'

'Better.' He said, shifting uncomfortably on his seat. 'Marginally.'

'Do you want to talk?'

'No.'

'I see.' The leather-clad woman paced quietly into the room, sitting down quietly on the bench next to the boy. They sat quietly for a long moment; fingers wrapped around the lockets pressed against their chests as if afraid they would disappear. Disappear just like they were. Indigo cleared her throat.

'Are you sleeping properly?' She asked, twiddling her thumbs in her lap. 'You look tired.'

'I am tired.'

Indigo giggled. 'Yeah, me too.'

'No, I mean, I'm tired.' Jaye sighed, turning away from the girl and fixing his gaze on a splotch on the wall. Trying and failing to find the words that he needed to express what he was feeling, he fell silent instead as he got lost in his thoughts again. Indigo continued to watch him quietly, wondering what she could possibly do for the boy. She took his hand in hers, lacing his fingers through her own and squeezing the boy's hand gently. He briefly acknowledged her, taking her hand in both his own. 'I don't know how to say it.'

'Of this.' She finished for him, waving a hand over the room. He gave her a look of surprise, and she chuckled at him. 'Please, when have I not known what you're thinking?' 'She smiled widely at the boy. 'You're not seriously considering it, are you?'

'I am.'

'You know they won't just let you leave, right?' Indigo said, shaking her head at the boy. 'Mina meant so much to us; all of us. But you can't throw everything away because of him!'

'I'm just-!' He stood up abruptly, scaring the girl and pacing across the room. He kicked the bag lying on the floor, sending it rolling into the corner. He grimaced, placing his hands on his hips and breathing slowly to calm himself. 'I thought I knew what it was like to lose someone close to you after my parents died, but I was wrong. I was so wrong. Kamina was-!' He rubbed an arm across his eyes. 'He was so much more than just a friend. He was the brother I never had; and I loved him like one. After you go through that much together, how am I supposed to move on?'

'I know.' Indigo wrapped her arms around the boy, making a half-joking sound of disgust at how sweaty he was. 'He was like a little brother to me; so damn annoying, but you love every bit of him for everything that he is. I honestly felt like I was his mother sometimes, though it's not exclusive to him.' She gave the boy a knowing look, and he stuck his tongue out at her. 'There we go, there he is. Feeling better?'

'A little.' He admitted, accepting a kiss from her. 'I… honestly, I've made up my mind.'

'About what?' The auburn-haired woman asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy. She gave him a look of horror, shaking her head as she seized him by the face. 'No, Jaye. Listen to me; it's never going to happen! It's best you just… come to terms with it on your own. We're far too important for the Council to let us go.'

'I know but-!' His voice caught in his throat. 'We're broken, Hana. Scattered at best. Honestly, I'm barely functioning at this point, Damian's just gone and left us and you're not handling this that well either. We can't keep doing this Indigo; I can't stand for anything to happen to you too.'

'Nothing's going to happen to me!' She laughed, keeping a firm grip on his cheeks. 'We're all going to be okay and we'll get past this. It's what Kamina would have wanted.' She pecked him on the cheek. 'Now I'm going to go take a shower; I'm sweaty thanks to you. You're going to join me.'

'Alright.' He let his hands fall from her waist, and Indigo gave him a sultry smile as she paced out of the gym. Still he stood, staring at the corner of the room with a blank look across his face. He flipped open the locket, staring at his best friend in the middle of the four of them, before finally clicking it shut and exiting the room.

'I want out.'

The line reverberated through the hall, echoing off the surrounding arches, and murmuring immediately ran across the table as if unsure if they had heard him right. Indigo took a half step forwards, a look of utter shock and rage plastered across her face, before settling back in line. The Councilmen at the table raised their eyebrows at the boy, still standing nonchalantly in front of the massive rectangular table.

'Pardon?' The elderly man sitting at the head of the table raised an eyebrow at the boy, still in disbelief at the words coming out from his mouth. 'You want out? Tell me I heard that wrong.'

'You heard me.' Jaye said, crossing his arms. 'I've served; I've spent many years in this family, working my way up the ranks to get where I am. I've proved my loyalty and my worth, and I want out.'

'No one gets out.' The elder sighed, placing a bony knuckle to his forehead. 'You must be dazed from the loss of Kamina. He was a valuable asset, and we are horrified at the news of his demise. But your request is… unreasonable. It is impossible.'

'Then make it possible.' The boy placed his hands on the table, leaning in to the old man as he puffed on his cigar. He narrowed his eyes at the elder, mirroring the look the old man was currently giving him. 'You're the elder; you've got all the power in the world at your fingertips. If anyone can make it happen it's you.' The boy finally took his hands off the desk. 'You just need to make the terms. And you know I won't fail.'

The room went dead silent, even the chorus of dissent from the other members of the council had died down in the face of the elder. The man still had the look of irritation plastered across his face, and he finally placed his cigar down in the ashtray before him.

'You may leave.'

'Thanks.'

'On one condition.' The man continued, raising his finger in the air. 'We've recognized your skills, and we know you're more than capable of the job. You see, we've got some… competition. The details will be given to you in time, for now prepare yourself for the task ahead. Complete this, and your freedom is yours for the taking.'

'And this is of course a job designed to kill me, right?'

'Do not test me, Ryder.' The man growled, leaning back in his chair. 'You will be told the details of your assignment in due time. Leave.'

Jaye stared at the elder for a long moment, finally nodding in agreement as he turned away from the man. He pushed the double doors open, stalking out of them heavily, the sound of the heavy wood and metal filling the hall as the doors closed. Indigo stood rooted to the spot, staring after him as he left, grimacing to herself under her breath as she processed what had just happened. The elder made a gesture to her.

'Indigo; your opinion has always been highly valued by this Council. What say you; do you think he can do it?' The elder's eyes twinkled devilishly, and Indigo shuddered internally. She recognized the veiled threat under the question; this wasn't a simple matter of if he would succeed, it was a matter of whether he would live to tell the world of them. And even if he did, would he? She weighed her words carefully as she spoke.

'I believe in him; he's never let us down and he won't start now.' She said, the veiled answer practically open to the table before them. She had no doubts he would keep their existence a secret, and if he wanted to live a life outside of it all then he would, and keep to himself for the rest of his days. She knew that for certain, and for the first time felt a rift driven between herself and the boy she loved with all her heart as he sought to leave her behind. 'He will complete his task, and he will hold you to the promises you made.'

'Very well.' The elder said, opening the box beside him and removing another cigar. He snipped off the end, and his attendant stepped forwards to light it for him. 'Hanazawa, you're dismissed. See to it the boy is prepared; we will give him his assignment in the days to come. You are permitted to assist him as far as information goes, but you are not to assist him in the field.' The elder took a long puff from his cigar, letting out the smoke in a long drawn-out breath. 'If he so desires his freedom, then he and he alone will have to fight for it.'

Back in their apartment

'Are you absolutely insane?!' Indigo screamed, throwing a glass at his head. Jaye snatched it out of the air, catching the second one as well and finally allowing the third to bounce off his head and shatter on the floor. He placed the cups down on the table, holding his hands out to the woman as she punched him in the face. He lowered his hands, quietly waiting out her fury.

'I need to do this Hana.' He declared, balling his hands into fists. 'I can't live like this anymore; always taking and being taken from. I've had enough of death.'

'So, you're going to kill your way to freedom, just so you can avoid more death?' She laughed sarcastically, kicking the wall. 'Do you hear how absurd that sounds?!'

'I don't expect you to understand.' The boy turned away from her, only serving to make her angrier in the process. He felt another glass collide with his back, shattering deafeningly against the floor, and sighed heavily. 'You've been here so much longer than I have; you've spent your whole life here! But I want a life other than death, Hana, and you should too.' He turned to the still furious woman, leaning against the kitchen counter for stability. 'Come with me.'

'Like HELL I will!' She swore, throwing yet another piece of tableware at him. He caught the plate thrown his way, placing it down on the coffee table in front of him, and somehow serving only to make her even angrier. 'You should be staying with me! You plan to just… get up and leave me alone?! I've lost so many things already!' The tears finally spilled over the edges of her eyes, and Jaye felt his heart crack as she finally met his gaze. 'Now you're making me lose you too.'

'You don't have to lose me if you come with me!' He hissed, striding over to the girl and seizing her by the shoulders. She pushed weakly against his chest, but he kept his grip firm on her. 'You're everything to me. No one can replace you, just like no one can replace Kamina. But I can't keep going through life taking lives from others. Until now, everyone was just another face, just another name on a list. But losing Mina?' He felt the hot liquid run down his own cheeks, rubbing his eyes in a vain attempt to stop the flow. 'I realized that for every person I kill, there's someone out there feeling this way, knowing they're never going to see them again for the rest of their lives. I can't keep doing that to people; Kamina would never have wanted that.' He set his mouth in a straight line. 'We never wanted a life like this, we only ever had each other. And now that he's gone, I have nothing.'

'And what about me?' Indigo's lip trembled, the tears leaving glittering lines down her cheeks. 'I'm nothing?'

'It's not the same and you know that. You can still come with me. You can still make that choice.' The boy said quietly, and she shook her head.

'You know as well as I there's no choice to be made.'

The two fell silent, broken only by their respective sobs as they remembered their dearest teammate and friend, slain for loving his fellow man too much. Jaye finally released the girl, and she turned abruptly away from him.

'Fine. Go walk off to your death for all I care.' She stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Jaye sat down heavily on the couch, scratching his head, watching the night sky outside. It was bright and beautiful, but try as he might, he couldn't find any comfort in it. His thoughts drifted back to the faunus boy; shite-eating grin plastered across his face without a care in the world. How he wished he could go back to those days. Still, his mind was made up, and he needed to escape this hell. If that meant sullying his hands even more, what did it matter?

He was steeped in blood anyway.

'Jaye Ryder, we've come to a decision.'

The boy raised an eyebrow at the elder, who was clearly drawing out his reveal of the assignment to intentionally annoy the boy. He rolled his eyes internally, keeping his face impassive as the old man lit a new cigar.

'Smoking that much is bad for your health you know.' He said, and the old man ignored him. He continued to delay, taking several puffs from his cigar until the boy finally growled audibly. He pushed the file towards the boy, who snatched it up from the table and flipped through it with a huff. He raised an eyebrow at its contents. 'I knew you were going to try to get me killed.'

'Of course.' The elder said, jabbing at the boy with his cigar. 'We can't simply let you go; it would be incredibly risky of us to allow you the opportunity to expose the Faction's secrets to the world with no strings attached. You do this for us, and we let you walk free.'

'Fine. Not like I have much of a choice in the matter.' The boy flipped the file shut, putting it away in his jacket. He glanced at the other Council Members. 'Anything else for me?'

'No.'

'Cool. I'm leaving.' He paced to the door, pushing them open. 'And you won't ever see me again.'

'Of course.' The elder scoffed, watching the doors swing shut as the boy left the room. Behind the elder's chair Indigo stood, the stoic look plastered across her face, and the elder turned to her. 'You seem a little subdued, Hanazawa. Anything you'd like to say to the Council?'

'With all due respect sir, he's going to walk free, and he knows it.' She said, and the elder chuckled.

'Oh, my dear, I'm betting on it.'

'Kill the Spider. That's that.' Jaye threw the file onto the table across from him. He'd relocated himself to one of his nearby safehouses, purchased with the considerable amount of cash he had from his work. He reclined in his chair, reading from the information backup he's stashed in the house.

The Spider, the leader of the biggest information network and criminal underground in Mistral. Though the Faction had a presence in there, the Spiders were of the same size and level as them, at least their branch there. The leader of the Spiders, real name and face unknown, was the most elusive target of all. And though numerous offers of friendship had been extended from the Faction to the man for coexistence and cooperation, they had all been sent back dead or defaced. The man had crossed the Faction and lived, making him just as dangerous, and this was the task now sat before him. To get close, he would have to pull out every resource he had, and no other job before this would compare. And all things considered, he had no idea where to even start. Though he knew of the Spiders bar in Mistral, he had little else to go on in terms of information. And information was easy to come by in Mistral, as long as you had the coin. Problem was, the information was all controlled by the Spiders, making it a little less accessible. Jaye sighed to himself.

'Guess I'm going to have to cash in a few favors.' He groaned, leaning back into the soft leather beneath him. 'First of all, I need to get to Mistral.'

'And how do you plan to do that?' Indigo's voice rang out from the doorway, and Jaye sighed as she strolled into his safehouse.

'Don't make me regret sharing all my safehouse locations with you.' He warned, and she ignored him, snatching up the file on the table. She made a face of disgust at it.

'That's all the information they gave you? He really wants you to walk off to your death.' She said, flipping it shut and chucking it back onto the table. 'I know for a fact we have more data than that.'

'And clearly I'm not privy to it.' Jaye grimaced, staring out the window next to him. 'If you're here to stop me, you can forget about it.'

'I'm not going to; I know how you get once your mind is set on something.' She said, removing a drive from a hidden compartment in her breastplate. She tossed it onto the table, turning back to the door. 'Everything I have on Mistral, the Faction branch there and the Spiders. God only knows why I'm helping you leave me.'

'The offer still stands you know.' He said, lacing his fingers together in his lap. 'I want you to come with me.'

'And my answer is still the same.' She shook her head. 'Besides, if I asked to leave too then the price would just get even higher, as if this wasn't bad enough already.'

'Thank you.'

'Good luck.' She hissed, exiting the safehouse and dismissing the boy entirely. 'You're going to need it.'

Jaye picked up the drive, plugging it into his scroll and pouring over the data quietly. He scrolled through the list of known Faction associates now stationed in Mistral, alighting on a familiar name that had recently moved over. He lit up, placing a finger thoughtfully on his chin as he considered his options. He opened up his scroll, finding a contact and tapping on it. After a few rings, the line crackled to life.

'I'd like to order a ticket for the Odyssey.' He said, tapping his fingers on his thigh. 'One-way passage to Mistral, with a specific suite. Number 1838.'

'… Of course, sir.' The voice said, and the sounds of a keyboard tapping could be heard on the other end of the line. 'And will you require… additional services for your trip?'

'Yes.'

'And which course for your… meal?'

'The full course.'

'Very well. I will have the ordered courses prepared duly. When would you like to leave sir?'

'Tonight.'

'Very well. Your order has been placed, and we will have someone to escort you once you arrive.'

'Thank you.' Jaye put down his scroll, getting up from the couch and digging through the wardrobe standing in the corner. Opening a small hatch in the back of the wooden clothing storage, he removed a small metal box with a fingerprint scanner built into its lid. He laid it out on the coffee table, pressing his finger to the glass and unlocking it. It opened with a hiss, revealing a stack of credit chips inside, alongside other choice items. He removed the small OTF knife inside, slipping it into a compartment built into the base of his boot. Picking up the stack of credits, he examined them briefly. Though highly similar to regular credit chips, the design on their holographic surfaces were decorated with an extraordinarily complex symbol. It was a leopard head, decorated with diamonds for eyes and emblazoned in the middle of a blood red ring. The symbol of the Faction. The leopard, stealthiest hunter in the animal kingdom, an apt choice of symbol for the elusive criminal underground that had gone undetected for over 50 years. Hoping to channel that leopard for the job, the raven-haired boy put the credits into his pocket, patting his jacket flat as he took a breath to calm himself.

His keys jingled as he took them off the hook on the wall, slipping them into his pocket and securing his swords on his back. He took the shield leaning against the wall, brushing off the symbol of the tiger emblazoned on its surface, magnetizing it to his back. Finally set, he locked the door as he left the apartment, checking the corridors to ensure he hadn't been followed. Entering the garage, he sped out of the carpark on his signature bike, disappearing down the road and not noticing the woman still crouched atop the apartment building, watching him disappear down the road. Indigo got up from her spot on the building, watching him vanish into the distance, finally leaping off the edge and disappearing into the night.

Chapter 1 completed. I actually started this back before I entered college but didn't finish in time and sort of forgot about it XD

Now that my semester is nearly starting, i actually finished this bit by bit during my free time and I guess I'm posting this now, and again this is just practice for me to write different types of stories. I'll try not to make this a carbon copy of what John Wick was like, I really loved those movies, and I'll hopefully explore a little more about the Faction as we go.