Assassination Part 1 Chapter 3

That evening

'Seventh floor.'

'Yeah, got her.' The boy shifted against the concrete, adjusting the binoculars at his eyes. He watched the faunus girl, Khylia, through the lenses as she left the restaurant. 'Rather relaxed for a traitor on the run, isn't she?'

'Well everyone's gotta eat.' Indigo said over the radio, grunting in effort as she worked the lock as gently as she could. Having disabled the traps over the door and disabled the digital security, she was now picking the lock to the main door. Going as far as to physically lock the door with a key as well; Khylia was nothing if not meticulous. She cussed as her pick slipped, relocating the pin with some effort, and finally managing to jiggle the bolt free. She twisted her tools, making a sound of satisfaction as the lock undid itself with a telltale clack. She turned the doorknob slowly, opening the door just a crack and peering inside. Well she was to be cautious, spying the wire in front of the door where a grenade had been taped to the doorframe, designed so the pin would come out should the door be opened carelessly. She reached down, grasping the wire, carefully sliding it under the edge of the door to avoid pulling out the pin. She stood back up with a satisfied smirk, still opening the door inch by inch just in case there were secondary traps waiting for the ones who would've grown complacent from disabling that many security devices since arriving. Spotting yet another trap; an automated crossbow in the corner set up with a heavy bolt, she tapped on her scroll to crack into the device. Waiting a tense minute for it to connect, she finally breathed again as the scroll beeped in success. She eyed the area quietly, scanning across the apartment that was supposedly the current housing for their quarry. Seeing no other obvious machinations of death awaiting her in the depths of the house, she touched her finger to her ear to contact her partner.

'Status?'

'Already on the way.' The sounds of a motorcycle speeding down traffic were unmistakable on his end of the radio, and she flinched as a random horn went off for a split second as he shot past a car. 'ETA three minutes to arrival, should be up in seven minutes.'

'And the target?'

'Headed out roughly fifteen minutes ago, called a cab. I hijacked her ride order, confirmed the address is the apartment. Considering the traffic and factoring that into the GPS timing prediction, I should make it up with at least eight minutes to spare, maybe more if the lift comes fast. How's it like on your side?'

'She was thorough but didn't manage to sneak anything past me. All automations and other traps disabled, cameras have been hacked and should show looped footage of our predicted period here. We'll be as good as ghosts and she'll be none the wiser.' Indigo grinned as she stared out the window, spotting the motorcycle in the middle of the street hurtling down at top speed. 'Going a little fast, aren't you? What if you get pulled over?'

'Then our plans will be foiled. And I will say oh woe is us.' She could practically hear him rolling his eyes on the other end of the radio. 'Be there in five.'

Eighteen Minutes Later

The cat girl keyed in her passcode lock to the door, unlocking it with the key in her pocket and pushing it open slowly. She reached under the edge for the thread attached to the grenade, levering it under the door quietly and sliding the door just a bare inch open to allow her to slip inside. She replaced the thread carefully, ensuring it didn't snag on anything, and disabled the crossbow in the corner. She peered around the apartment, everything looking untouched and nothing out of the ordinary from how she left it. Heaving a sigh of relief, she removed her coat with a stifled groan as she realized how tense she was just coming back to her temporary home. Tossing it onto the couch nearby, she paced into the middle of the room, taking her pistol out from under her arm and placing it on the table.

'I cannot keep doing this.' She muttered to herself, grimacing out the window and jumping from the scare of her life as a voice rang out from the darkness.

'No, you can't.' The raven-haired boy stepped out from the shadowed corner, silenced gun in hand and levelled with the faunus girl's head. Whirling around to face him, her eyes dropped to her own gun on the table, cursing her moment of carelessness, and Jaye shook his head in response. 'I wouldn't try that if I were you.'

'Then thank god you're not me then.' She scoffed, pulling out her scroll and hitting a button in a flash. The automated crossbow reactivated, whirling towards her and levelling with the boy. She hit the button again, her victorious smirk turning into a look of confusion as the crossbow simply made a hissing sound in response to her command. 'What?'

'You didn't really think we broke in here and didn't disable everything, did you?' Indigo said, appearing out from the corner. Khylia took a step back, glancing around the room for a means of escape, cursing internally as she realized that in her effort to remove entry points, she'd effectively locked herself in. She backed away from the two, inching toward the door, realizing with stark horror that if she tried to hastily open the door the grenade would go off. All routes led to fighting them, and she recognized the woman at the very least. Facing the Untouchable was not going to end well for her, she knew, so her only hope was out the window and hopefully not getting shot out of midair. Her eyes flickered to the side, wondering why the window looked so weird, before realizing with a start that it had been encased in crystal clear ice, almost like a sheet of glass, and realized with another bout of horror who the man was.

'Niflheim.' She breathed, taking a faltering step backwards as she realized the two top assassins of the Faction were standing before her. Her chances, previously slim, were virtually non-existent now, and she felt her legs give out under her as she realized she was about to die. 'Why? Since when did I become such a huge threat to warrant you two?'

'Ever since you tried to betray the Faction and join up with the Spiders.' Indigo sighed, tapping her finger against her temple. Khylia glared at the two, balling her hands into fists.

'And who sent you? Malachite?'

'And what exactly does Malachite have to do with this?' Jaye scoffed, folding his arms across his chest. Khylia remained tight-lipped at his question, and the boy sighed heavily. 'Well?'

The girl remained tight-lipped, and Indigo sighed heavily. 'Please don't lie to us; we're on a time limit, and I'd much rather not have to torture it out of you.'

'My question is going to be very simple.' The boy paced forwards towards the woman now kneeling on the floor, pushing his gun barrel up against her forehead. He stared down at her with a blank look that gave her no room for doubt that he would kill her if he didn't get what he wanted. 'Where is the Spider.'

'I don't know!'

'Are we really going to do this the hard way?' He pressed the firearm a little harder into her head, and she whimpered pitifully as he flicked off the safety. 'You better tell me something, or I'm going to shoot you in the head and hang your corpse from the window.'

'Though I'd rather not to since it would be a pain, I can still just scrub your computer for the information I need.' Indigo pointed out, spinning a knife between her fingers. 'So answer the question; and answer it truthfully.'

'I-!' Khylia swallowed hard, finding the strength in herself to speak. 'You won't find what you need in any of the devices here; everything we did we did face to face. You kill me, you get nothing.'

'You know, I don't have to kill you.' Jaye sighed, letting the gun trail down from her forehead. Her eyes followed the barrel, as it shifted down slowly to her collarbone, then a little lower to her shoulder. He slid the barrel into the gap between her shoulder and her neck. 'A shot right here wouldn't touch a single one of your vitals… but it'll hurt like a bitch.' He let the gun trail downwards to under her rib. 'And here, well, it'll pass through your stomach and into your spine, paralyzing you for life. But you'll be alive.' Further down it trailed, to her thigh. 'This would shatter your femur. Won't kill you, but you'll be lucky to walk ever again.' His eyes sparkled with an almost murderous curiosity. 'Care to take those chances?'

'You think you're scaring me?'

'Yeah. And I think it's working, considering all your limbs are trembling at the same time.' Jaye said, taking the woman's hand and pressing it to the barrel of his gun. 'Question; do you think writing is useful for you, or would you not care if you could never do it again for the rest of your life.'

'Okay, I get it!' She burst, choking on her own voice as she sobbed. 'Please don't hurt me!'

'That's better.' The raven-haired boy got up from his spot on the floor, pacing back to the couch and plopping himself down on it. 'You see? You give us what we want and there's no trouble.' He tilted his head at the woman, still sobbing in the middle of the carpet. 'Your answer?'

'I really don't know where he is!' She cried, dropping onto her hands and sobbing pitifully. 'They still don't trust me!'

'Well then exactly what value do you hold for me?' The boy rolled his eyes, getting back to his feet. The woman flinched away along the carpet, covering her face with her hands in a desperate attempt to protect herself from whatever it was she thought he was going to do.

'I've only met with the normal member of the Spiders, but I'm supposed to meet an officer tomorrow night!' She squealed, still covering herself as best she could with her hands as the boy advanced on her. 'I don't know anything, but they will!'

'The location.' Indigo demanded, kneeling down to the still sobbing woman. 'Well?'

'At the docks!' She whispered, managing to reign in her heaving sobs as she avoided Indigo's gaze. 'Look for the man with the symbol of the Spider tomorrow at midnight, that's all I know! I swear!'

She dug hurriedly through her pockets, removing a badge with an elaborate symbol carved into its surface and handing it to the woman. Indigo squinted at it in the darkness, handing it over to the boy. It was a spider's web, with a silver spider in the middle of it, feet clutching onto each of the eight threads surrounding it. A symbol that spoke for itself; its reach is everywhere.

'No one casts a web like a Spider can.' Jaye mused, slipping the badge into his pocket. He slid the pistol back into his jacket, watching the sobbing woman quietly as she continued to bawl into the fabric. She had finally quietened down to a degree, and he hoped they hadn't been heard by anybody. 'Seriously though, why would you just walk away from the Faction? I mean, did you just think they were going to let you go? How far did you think you'd get?'

'May I remind you that that's exactly what you're trying to do?' Indigo scoffed, balancing the knife on the tip of her finger. Jaye rolled his eyes at the woman.

'No, I'm doing a final job in exchange for my freedom. It's different.' He rolled his eyes again, glancing down at the woman beneath him. 'Seriously though, you're not really anyone special. You might be a part of us, but they hardly keep track of your comings and goings. Why betray us to the Spiders?'

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you.' She coughed, dragging herself across the carpet and away from the boy. 'But know that it's something the Faction is willing to kill me for.'

'That doesn't really say much. They'd kill people for a slice of bread.' Jaye scoffed. 'And not even the good kind. Like the one-fifty shit you find in those discount stores.'

The three jumped as the door clacked with the sound of the lock being undone. The knob turned, and Khylia's eyes widened in realization as to who it was. She opened her mouth, no sound coming out, watching in horror as the door opened an inch. A hand reached through, lowering the grenade wire, and slipping into the house. Another woman, markedly different from the faunus girl still on the floor, removed her coat and hung it up on the hanger nearby, turning around and freezing as she spotted the scene in the middle of the room. Khylia lurched forward, halting as Jaye seized her by the collar.

'Angela!' She gasped, and the woman, Angela, responded instantaneously. She drew her firearm from her waist, hissing as she realized that the two assassins had already drawn theirs and levelled them with her head. She kept her gun trailed on the boy, who had dropped the cat girl back onto the carpet.

'Who the hell are you?!' Angela hissed, flicking the safety off her gun. Jaye raised an eyebrow at the woman.

'That's my line.' He said, glancing down at the woman across the carpet. 'Care to explain?'

'Angela please, just go!' She cried, and Jaye put his foot down on her back, pressing her into the carpet. Angela levelled her gun with the boy, stepping forwards as threateningly as she could, and Indigo met the woman halfway with a handgun of her own.

'Let her go.' Angela growled, ignoring the fact that there were two guns trailed on her head. Indigo made a sound of surprise, lowering her weapon.

'You're a Spider!' She gasped, and Jaye glanced at the woman's neck. Sure enough, there was the symbol of the Spider, tattooed on the nape of the lady. They glanced across each other, and Jaye almost smirked in response.

'Well that simplifies things.' He barked a laugh. 'Now we can get around to getting some actual information.' He lowered his gun to the woman pressed into the carpet. 'Drop it.'

'I could shoot you in the face right now.' Angela growled, grip tightening on her pistol. 'Even if I gave you what you wanted to know, you're just going to kill us anyway, aren't you?'

'I might.' The boy replied, wiggling his gun still aimed at the prone woman's head. 'But I might not, depending on what you tell me. That's probably the best chance the both of you have of getting out of here alive.'

The two faced off against each other for a moment, until Angela finally lowered her gun. She dropped it to the floor with a loud clatter, earning a sound of fear from the woman below, and raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. The boy gestured over to the couch, and the woman complied with a snarl. Indigo kept her gun trained on Angela, eyes following her every movement as she sat down on the couch. Jaye picked up the discarded weapon, tossing it onto a nearby table.

'Alright then, now that we're all comfortable, let's chat, shall we?' He picked the woman up off the carpet, shoving her onto the couch next to her friend. 'Tell me where I can find the Spider.'

'You think he's that easy to find?' Angela scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest on Indigo's command. Khylia followed suit, glancing nervously across the pair. Jaye rolled his eyes at the sarcastic woman.

'I know he's not easy to find; if he was, I wouldn't have to go to this much effort to locate him.' He rolled his eyes again as she rolled hers right back. 'You must know something more than little miss cat girl over here.'

'Maybe I don't.'

'Then maybe I should put a bullet in your head.' Jaye hissed, his patience running thin. 'Even if you don't know squat, you should know who does. And you're going to tell me who that is.'

'I already told you, tomorrow at midnight at the docks!' Khylia whimpered. 'What more do you want!'

'Can you at least keep some of your pride as an assassin?' Jaye sighed heavily, slapping a hand into his face. 'I swear, you're whimpering like a child. You're supposed to have seen death!'

'She already told you what you want to know!' Angela swore, pushing Khylia behind her as much as she could from her spot on the couch. 'We can't tell you anything more than that!.'

Jaye turned his gun on Khylia. 'You mentioned Malachite earlier. Why.'

'She's a double agent.' Angela hissed. 'She's been a Spider for as long as I can remember.'

'You're telling me one of the most accomplished information brokers in the Faction has been a double agent this whole time?'

'It's the truth.' Angela spat. 'We've given you so much already; just let us go.'

The room fell silent for a long moment, guns still trained on the two nestled protectively together, as Jaye and Indigo looked across each other. Indigo drew a line across her neck repeatedly, gesturing at the two, but Jaye was hesitating. He glanced at the pair, huddled together in front of him, helpless and frightened.

'I want to know one thing. How do you two know each other? You're far too protective of her to just be a client or a partner.' He said, gesturing at Khylia. He lowered the gun, signifying a parlay of sorts, and Angela glanced at him suspiciously.

'We're childhood friends.' She clarified, still pushing the whimpering woman behind her as much as she could. 'I wound up joining the Spiders, and she joined the Faction. We didn't meet each other again until recently.'

'And that still doesn't explain how things are as they are now. You're basically enemies as far as allegiances go.'

'She was sent to kill me.' Angela continued, and Jaye gave her a look of surprise. 'I managed to piss off a handler on your end, and she was sent to take me out. Surprise surprise when we saw who we were facing.'

'So, in the end she couldn't kill you and is now branded a traitor. Rather than let her die a horrible death you offered to induct her into the Spider's fold.' Indigo finished, lowering her pistol. 'A touching story.'

'Right, but I assume this isn't a normal induction.' Jaye said, folding his arms across his chest. 'She's not a new member, she's a traitor from a rival organization, and not only does she have potentially compromising information, but she could also be trying to infiltrate the group.'

'Therefore, you had to make a special arrangement with a big shot from the Spider faction to assess her before you could induct her into the fold.' Indigo finished, raising an eyebrow at the boy across from her. 'Well this is certainly convenient for us. Thanks for the info.'

'Wait!' Angela raised her hands to stop the two. 'You can't just leave us! If they find out we sold them out, they'll kill us!'

'We're going to kill you.' Indigo clarified, cocking her pistol. 'I think that's your immediate problem.'

'But we gave you what you asked!'

'Yeah, and we said we might let you live. Or more accurately, he said he might not kill you.' Indigo said, placing the barrel of her weapon to the woman's forehead. 'I didn't make any promises.'

A memory flashed to the forefront of his mind, when he and Kamina were kids. Left to survive on their own on the streets, the two had only had each other for protection, and though the two women looked completely different from them, their helpless expressions were the same. He couldn't kill them when their faces brought Kamina's to mind every time. Not anymore.

'Hana.' Jaye stopped his partner, placing a hand on her wrist and pushing her hand down. He shook his head at her, and Indigo gave him a look that said, "I am confusion".

'You want to let them live? Do you have any idea what the Faction will do to you if they find out?' She hissed, and the boy kept his grip firm on her wrist. Indigo met his stare for a long moment, silently duking it out while the pair watched, and the purple-clad woman finally relented. She slipped her gun back into her coat, stepping back as Jaye cleared his throat.

'The two of you are going to do your meeting tomorrow as planned. Once you're done, you're going to give me an unobtrusive signal to identify the officer, and we're going to drop in and force what we need to know out of your guy. Betray us, and I will end your lives. You both know who I am and what I'm capable of.' He addressed the pair, tapping his pistol against his arm. 'Understood?'

'Crystal clear.' Angela said, still cautious of the offer being extended to her. 'Thank you.'

'We're done here.' He said, turning to the door. He reached down, freezing the wire between his fingers and shattering it, swinging the door open. Hana glanced at the pair still on the couch, torn between following his wishes and doing what she felt was more secure, finally giving in and darting out the door after the boy. She grabbed Jaye's arm as they proceeded down the corridor, stopping him in his tracks.

'What the hell was that about!' She hissed, forcing him to face her. Jaye gave her a look that said, "not now", and she felt her temper flare instantaneously. 'No, you are going to give me an answer right now, and it had better be a good one!'

'This is the more expedient way.' He justified. 'Killing them won't identify who the officer is, and this way we have a better chance of both identifying the right guy and keeping everyone we need within arm's reach.'

'That's not why and you know it.' The auburn-haired woman folded her arms under her chest. 'You know as well as I how good I am at information gathering. Identifying the officer would be no trouble at all, and we could always show the badge we got from them as a method of identifying ourselves as coming on their behalf. Why are you refusing to kill them!'

'Because of Kamina!' The boy blurted, glancing around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. 'He's dead Hana. That means a lot to me.' The boy grimaced. 'I can't help but be reminded of him looking at them. When we were kids living abandoned on the streets, we were no different from how they are now; powerless, with nothing but each other for protection and comfort. I can't kill them, Hana. I can't.'

'This again?' Indigo dropped her face into her hands in exasperation. 'I understand you wanting to leave, I've accepted it. But lying about completing your mission is going to get you killed!'

'It'll be fine.' The boy said, though he definitely sounded more confident than he felt. 'We're going to be fine.'

'No, we're not.' Indigo shook her head, turning to the lifts ahead. She paced to them quietly, pausing as the doors opened to her button press. 'They'll know. They always know.'

The worst part was that deep down, he knew she was right. He was going to pay for this, sooner or later.

End