*Hey!
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...
"We got a second fragment?!" Kane questioned with confusion and excitement in his voice.
"You bet your ass we do!" Hugh put a huge smile on his face and looked at his brother proudly.
"Right, right, right. This is really important. I'll make sure Barton gets these." Ryo hastily pulled out a special pouch and tossed the second fragment into it. Its glow emitted through the pouch, along with the first fragment.
"How many fragments are there?" Kane asked curiously.
"I'm gonna be honest, I have no clue," Ryo lowered his gaze and put the pouch back on his belt. "I do have a few contacts that would know, but I wanna ask them about it personally. I think it's a bit too hectic right now to go looking for people. I'm gonna deliver these to Barton before I do anything else."
Hugh and Kane nodded in sync.
"Alright, let's clear this place."
...
After a successful rummage through the entire warehouse, our assassins carefully dumped all the bodies in the river with little difficulty. They walked back into the warehouse and Kane lit another cigarette.
"Do me a favour." He turned his head towards Hugh and then towards a broken boat. "See those gas cans? Pour them around the inside."
Hugh saluted and quickly nodded before grabbing the gas cans. There was plenty of gas, so they could cover most of the warehouse. After a few minutes, it was all ready. Hugh poured a line of gas leading outside of the warehouse towards the front parking lot. He threw the empty gas can away as he sprinkled the last few drops of gas on the end of the trail.
Kane saluted the warehouse, crouched down and lit the gas trail.
"Let's get the fuck out of here."
Kane quickly murmured as he dragged a cloud of smoke from his cigarette, turned around and started walking away.
Hugh and Ryo nodded as they hurried behind him.
The entire warehouse combusted into flames as the three assassins turned their back towards it. It was sort of like a final mark they left on the city before leaving it for a while. Symbolic, really. It was the start of something bigger, something grander...something dangerous, but exciting.
The revolution.
...
The assassins travelled swiftly across the city until they made it back to the town square. Ryo was leading the charge this time, but he stopped himself on top of a rooftop not too far from the sanctuary.
"Unfortunately, fellas, I can't stay," He slowly turned around and smiled. "I got a train to catch early in the morning, and I have to report to someone important before that."
"Well, we won't stall you any longer, then. Thanks for coming through today." Kane walked up to Ryo, shook his hand and hugged him.
Hugh did the same a moment afterwards. "Watch yourself, brother."
Ryo quickly ran to the opposite edge of the one that was facing the sanctuary and spoke up.
"Don't be strangers. You know where I'm at."
He waved behind him as he jumped across to the other building. About half a minute passed before Hugh and Kane started running back towards the sanctuary.
He traversed many rooftops and many streets before he made it to his destination. Ryo dropped to a smaller town square that was a bit further away from the train station. With a pep in his step, he walked up to an old flower shop. He opened the door and the tiny bell rang, indicating he entered the store. The lights have been off in the flower shop for years now, but that never stopped Ryo from entering. Every shelf that used to have beautiful orchids on them was trashed and broken. The smell of dried paint could be felt in the thick, dense air. The ventilation system never worked properly anyway. Ryo walked up to the staff room behind the counter and slowly opened the door. The sight of the several large boxes in the staff room brought a nostalgic, but depressing mood to the whole room. Ryo slowly lifted his gaze and was met with a large cross hung on the solid concrete wall. He slowly walked up to it and touched it carefully.
He lowered his head once more and closed his eyes.
"Hope you're good up there. Miss you."
Ryo lifted his head, opened his eyes and started walking away.
"Sister."
...
A few short hours passed as Ryo safely made it to the train station that wasn't too far away from the flower shop.
It was early in the morning, so the train only contained a few passengers. Ryo was able to book an entire cabin for himself, even, which isn't a common occurrence. He casually put his headphones on as he boarded the train. The trains in Croatia haven't progressed much at all in terms of quality in the last few decades, so it would take about four hours for Ryo to make it to his destination.
It gave him plenty of time to clear his head and think about a few things.
The whole situation with the pieces of Eden, Kingston, Radanov and Mikhailov, the Belov twins, Roth...
Ryo's lifestyle has always been fast and unpredictable. It's safe to say he would be prepared for this sort of thing, but humans are unpredictable. Nobody even considers how mentally strong you have to be to adapt to all sorts of different climates and cultures in such a short time. Something very common with rougher Asian cultures in boxing is the frequency of matches they need to endure. Filipino, Thai or Indonesian boxers come to mind when you mention the word 'frequency'. Most of them retire early due to severe head trauma and various other illnesses or problems.
Boxing really is relevant to a lot of things, at least in Ryo's line of work. You could associate it with a lot of things. That's funny to think about. Ryo quietly chuckled as the train turned the beautiful wheat and corn fields they were passing by into blurry messes.
He took a few moments to focus on finding a good song after he landed on a bad one during a shuffle. After getting comfortable again, he stared off into the sky through the somewhat clean window and disappeared into his thoughts once more.
...
Kingston.
The Kingston surname wasn't always a prestigious or royal one, despite the majority of the family's history appearing so. Brian Kingston's grandfather grew up in the slums of London. He never had enough change to feed himself properly.
...
Until he profited off of killing somebody.
He was desperate, he had been desperate for his whole life. The only way of surviving would be to take the biggest risks a human being could take.
And...it worked.
He slowly made it a habit of murdering people for money. You'd think the family would turn into a bunch of serial killers, but thankfully, it was only Brian's grandfather's bloodlust and determination to survive in any way he can. Who knows what could have happened to the Creed if the Kingston's had a serial killer gene coursing through their veins.
Ruth Kingston, the father of Brian, killed his father on one of his contracts. After his death, the Kingston family discovered its connection to the royal assassin families. Their past name and image were painted with holy and bright colours with their courage, determination and polite behaviour, their ancestors were crowned as the purest assassins of the past.
Funny how the only noble and holy thing about Brian Kingston and his family is that they are British. Even that doesn't mean anything nowadays. After Ruth's death, Brian went back to his grandfather's old habits. Drinking, smoking and doing meaningless contracts just to get a tiny bit of serotonin circling in his otherwise depressed brain.
Brian wasn't the type of person, or even assassin, to be the current master of the guild.
That's why he was never given the grandmaster title. Only true masters of the guild could ascend to such a title. And the current Brian Kingston could never be one of those assassins.
He isn't even that good. Whilst Kane and Hugh were stationed in England, they would sometimes spar and train with the young Brian. They would always beat him, however, and nothing's changed with age, either. Barton is Kingston's right-hand man and he never has any good stories about him. The last contract Kingston accepted was several months ago. If anything, a revolution had started shedding its light long before the modern templars became prevalent. Ever since Ruth Kingston's death, the Creed hasn't had a proper leader.
It was just that simple.
...
The four hours didn't last that long. The train even made only the necessary stops which meant it arrived a bit sooner than expected.
Ryo quickly gathered his luggage and hurried off the train. It was still early in the morning. That tells you how early Ryo's train had to depart.
Zagreb is a lot bigger than Osijek.
If you've ever been to both cities, you'd notice the difference instantly. The train station itself was huge. It could fit a lot of trains, and the inside of it felt like stepping inside of a giant chapel. Victorian decoration, statues everywhere, a few fountains to signify the modern age of Zagreb, the train station was a prime representation of the capital. Compared to the lacklustre ageing of Osijek, this was a blessing. He stepped through the huge halls of the mostly empty train station until he made it outside once again. The giant statue of King Tomislav riding a horse met him outside a bit further down the road. Even if the statue wasn't exactly right next to the station, it was certainly overlooking it, perhaps with its importance, or just its sheer size.
Ryo inhaled a huge breath of fresh air. It felt cold, but warm and familiar at the same time. He casually made it across the road, the town square and the tram gateway that was separating the statue from the train station and quickly ran up to the statue. There was a single bench in front of the statue and only one lonely, but strong figure sat in one half of it.
Paul Barton.
His head was covered by an English cap. He had his hands together with his fingers interlaced. A single cold breath filled the air beneath him as he deeply inhaled with his head still lowered.
Ryo sat down, his hands still in his pockets. They sat together for a minute before Barton spoke up.
"The fragments?"
"Getting right to it, I see."
Ryo took out a large pouch where he always kept his cigarettes. He pulled one out before offering it to Barton. He politely declined until Ryo moved the open pouch in front of Barton's eyes.
It contained both of the fragments inside of it, completely undamaged. Barton lifted his head and nodded with a slight side to side movement, indicating how he changed his mind about wanting the paper filter filled with all sorts of chemicals.
"Eh, fuck it." He pulled the last cigarette out of the big pouch and placed it in his mouth. "Got a light?"
Ryo didn't even nod since he was already taking his lighter out. He lit Barton's cigarette first and lit his right afterwards. The cold air made it hard to control the flame.
"You wanna tell me why these are important, Paul?" Ryo brought a question up after a few moments.
"Listen, Ryo," Paul stood up and stared out in the same direction the statue was pointing to. "As soon as I know something, I'll let you know. I mean, hell, you, the White brothers, even the juniors will probably be an important part of the conference that Kingston's holding a couple of days before Roth arrives here."
Ryo crossed his arms and legs as he now stared at Barton. He quietly exhaled through his nose. "Sounds like a treat." He got up and patted Barton on the back. "Don't be a stranger, Paul." Ryo suddenly gave a sealed letter to Barton. It had the word 'request' written on it with two signatures.
Kane's and Hugh's.
Ryo reached for the headphones around his neck and put his hands back into his pockets.
Barton stood there for a few minutes until he couldn't see Ryo anymore.
...
4:47 AM.
It was still too early for most people in Zagreb to be awake.
Barton carefully put away the fragments and the letter he just got as he started walking in the opposite direction of Ryo. He made it to a tram station that wasn't too far from the statue and boarded the nearly empty tram that would take him to an abandoned train station. It was a bit further away from the tram station he got off of. The train station had similar proportions to the main train station, but it was isolated from most people. It was a bit further into the rural area of Zagreb surrounded by a few fields. The same private plane that Barton arrived in was waiting for him inside of the station. He quickly boarded it and started having a casual conversation with the pilot before taking off. Barton would make it back to England within a few hours, just in time for the world to wake up.
...
Two days went by.
Kane received the confirmation letter the same night Barton was handed the fragments of Eden. Ashley has finally recovered enough to begin training.
However, someone else has a head start on her.
We find ourselves in the sanctuary's gym.
"You aren't putting your hips into it!"
"Again, with more power and speed! You won't get anywhere on shaky legs!"
"Weave your head and upper body during your step in! It makes it harder for your opponent to hit you during your attack!"
Shouts of encouragement and discipline echoed throughout the gym. Hugh took it upon himself to train Luka for the next week before the trip to Zagreb.
Luka followed Hugh's instructions closely and performed rather well.
"Good work!" Hugh paused for a few moments as he walked over to a nearby bench. "Rest for a minute and then start doing squats! Ideally, go until you can't do anymore, but make your goal at least 200! Take necessary breaks in between if needed, a fighter's job is to rest as much as it is to work on himself!"
"Yes, sir!" Luka immediately began doing squats and started counting out loud. "1, 2, 3..."
Hugh took his massive hoodie off and grabbed a pair of gloves. As he finished putting them on, he walked over to a large punching bag. He began doing a few strong swings which led to merciless combinations. The sound his fists were making against the punching bag was splendid.
After Hugh finished a couple of sets, he noticed Luka was still doing his squats just as effortlessly as ever.
"...198, 199, 200!" Luka performed a tiny bounce, widened his legs and began breathing heavily.
"Take a few minutes to gather your breath. After that, we're heading out for a run!" Hugh said enthusiastically.
"Yes, sir!" Luka shouted back with equal energy.
And so, they did.
They ran along their usual running course until they made it to the riverside where they usually practice sprinting and short distance runs. Completing the running course along the riverside looked and felt very repetitive, but it was an effective way of making progress.
After completing several runs, they began running back. "We're heading back, Luka!"
"Right!"
After a few minutes of running quietly, apart from the sounds of both of the assassins panting for air, Hugh slowed down until he fully stopped. He began shadowboxing. Shadowboxing always looked weird to any average person, due to the boxers just punching the air, but it was a great practice method. Luka rested for a few moments and began shadowboxing as well.
"Out of curiosity, do you know why we're going through all the core training?"
Luka stopped shadowboxing for a moment before getting right back into it. "I was never one to question your training methods, they've gotten me very far before. To answer your question, no. I don't know."
Hugh stopped shadowboxing entirely and turned towards Luka. "It's to build up your strengths."
A simple answer, but it caught Luka's attention regardless.
"We've had brief conversations before about your weaknesses, but we won't be working on them until we make it to the capital. For now, to make use of our short time left in this city would be to keep doing everything we've been doing! Teaching you new training methods in a matter of days is not on my to-do list."
Luka stopped shadowboxing halfway through Hugh's statement. He took a deep breath and began running down the road once more. "Right, let's give it our best, then!"
Hugh's confused expression turned into an affectionate smile as he started running after him. "You aren't leaving me behind, dumbass!"
...
Meanwhile, our other two assassins had their training to worry about. Kane took Ashley to an abandoned construction site within the slums of Osijek.
"This was supposed to be built in 2011?" Ashley curiously asked after reading the withered and decayed sign.
"Yeah, that's when construction was supposed to end, but the project was dropped. Fortunately for us, it makes an amazing training ground."
Kane calmly entered through a smallish hole in the fence. Ashley quickly followed. A few steps into the construction site was enough to be standing in front of a massive unfinished building.
"Kane?" Suddenly, Ashley spoke up.
"What is it?" Kane turned around, his hands still in his pockets.
She took a few moments to gather her thoughts. After taking a deep breath, she spoke. "Am I not good enough of an assassin?"
Kane didn't expect such a huge question, so his expression showed his shock. "What do you mean, Ashley?"
"I've always felt like I was in complete control back in England. I was the fastest and the most agile rookie assassin there was. There wasn't anyone that could keep up with me." She started gently stroking her elbow. "But since I've been here, I've been the weakest. I haven't done anything to prove myself."
She stopped speaking and lowered her head. It sounded like she was going to start sobbing in a few moments.
"Why do you feel the need to prove yourself?"
A very important question came out of Kane's mouth. Not words of encouragement, words of inspiration or simply just a word of advice. Perhaps, it was the best thing to come out of his mouth, just a very important question. Ashley lifted her head and looked directly into Kane's eyes which were now focused on her face entirely.
"You've already proven plenty, Ashley."
This statement shocked her even further.
"You're the same age as Luka, yet he's a worse assassin than you. And I don't think that gap is small, either."
Ashley's eyes widened as the tears that were building up in her eyes froze in place, almost like she just received some extremely horrible news.
"Two factors build into that statement." Kane crossed his arms and closed his eyes for a few moments. After a while, he continued. "Number one, your potential is simply far greater than Luka's."
This wasn't that much of a shock as everything else she's heard so far, but she prepared for the worst when Kane uttered the next words.
"Number two..."
He paused for an uncomfortable amount of time. Finally, he broke the silence.
"Luka doesn't have the mental strength to be a good assassin."
"Mental strength?" Ashley repeated the words back to Kane as if that was the first time she heard them. "What? But, how? He seemed very mentally strong to me in the warehouse."
Kane waved his hand towards her, indicating that she should continue.
"He never backed down and never lost any bit of resilience, he almost knocked out all the Begucci brothers in a single swing, so why isn't he good enough?!"
Kane took a few moments to answer.
"The same day you came to Osijek was the same day he had his second contract. Both his first and second solo contracts included killing a few thugs that were causing trouble around the neighbourhood, nothing serious." Ashley patiently waited with her hands nervously placed close to her face. "That was the last time Luka murdered someone."
Ashley lifted an eyebrow and started looking down towards the ground more as if she was piecing something in her brain.
"He didn't even lift his blade on the Begucci brothers, did he?" Kane asked another huge question in a serious tone. Ashley lifted her head towards him once more.
"No...he didn't. Even with his billhook out, he only attacked with the staff of it..."
"And let me guess, he hasn't used his pistol inside of his hidden blade yet either."
"He has a pistol?!"
"My point exactly."
Ashley grabbed either side of her head with her hands and began nervously shifting in place. Kane walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"He's becoming soft. In your first contract together, I can understand only knocking out the guards, but during the Begucci fight, your lives were at stake. And all he was looking for was a good fight. That's not something we taught him."
Ashley calmed herself enough as Kane let go of her shoulders.
"Let's move backwards a small bit. My first reasoning was your potential."
This caught Ashley's attention as her expression turned into a determined one.
"The easiest way to explain it is this. You have incredible potential, but you're underworked. You don't have the backbone of tons and tons of training. Luka is completely the opposite. He rose from absolutely nothing. The only thing he can rely on is his training, which is why he trains so damn much. Both of you have major flaws that need to be worked on. Now let me give you an example of a perfect combination of the two..." Kane paused once more for a while. "Ryo."
Ashley's eyes widened, but not so much due to shock, but due to the dramatic appeal of the reveal.
"Ryo and Luka met a few years ago and the first thing they did was spar in a boxing ring. They both instantly realised they love the sport, so their first interaction was them indulging in an activity they shared a love for. I don't know if you've seen Ryo box, but you've seen Luka. Both of their fighting styles reflect their personalities splendidly." Kane placed himself into an orthodox stance. A textbook stance perfectly suited for most boxers. After a few moments, he placed both of his fists on his chin and lowered his head just enough so that he was looking at Ashley from below. The top of his hands was turned towards Ashley. The peek-a-boo style. "You can probably assume which is which. Luka is an explosive infighter, which all of us already know. However, Ryo has garnered himself a nickname that not a lot of boxers tend to obtain...The Genius. Somebody who relies almost entirely on their talent, natural abilities and instincts, especially once they're focused on defeating their opponent." Kane straightened himself as he placed his hands back into his pockets. Only his thumbs peaked out from the top. "Ryo's potential far exceeds mine and Hugh's, and you know how powerful we are as assassins. But Ryo also works incredibly hard to make sure he's on the top of his game at all times. He's a perfect combination of you and Luka and he is the perfect example of what you need to work towards to better yourselves."
Ashley's face managed to crack a genuine smile near the end of Kane's sentence. She closed her eyes, lowered her head and grinned even harder.
"We have to get to training now, Ashley. But, before we do, know this." Ashley's interest was peaked for the final time.
"Your potential is greater than Ryo's."
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She stopped breathing for a moment before snapping back to reality within a few seconds. After she collected herself, she confidently smiled and looked at Kane with nothing but determination in her eyes.
"Teach me how to use that potential!"
Kane smiled happily as he turned around and started walking into the abandoned building. He quickly waved his hand towards the direction he was walking in. Ashley started running to catch up with him.
...
"Grip the pole tightly, the opponent's not gonna give you a chance to rest!"
"Put more spirit into it, your stamina is the most important part of a duel!"
"Rhythm, rhythm! Speed, speed! Keep up the pace, otherwise, you'll be crushed in one moment!"
Parkour, running, gripping, dashing or practising duels. You name it, Kane made Ashley do the exercise.
Kane's loud training quotes were not much different from Hugh's.
You'd think for a moment that they were related.
...
After countless and countless repeats of the same exercises, moves and efforts, a whole week went by.
The juniors were fully recovered and ready to head to the capital. They even had a rest day, as well.
"Are you finished yet? We should set out soon, kids." Hugh placed his hands on his hips. Kane and Hugh's luggage was neatly packed. It was only necessary to have a backpack or two. The rest of the essentials would be easy to obtain in the capital itself.
The juniors were more excited than just slow. They were hastily sprinting around looking for anything neat they could take on a trip. Hugh and Kane both crossed their arms at this point as their expressions began turning into annoyed frowns. As soon as Luka walked up to Hugh to ask him a question, Hugh aggressively hit the top of his head with a clenched fist.
"Don't make me fucking repeat myself, Luka. I know how excited you are, but fucking pack already!" Hugh's shout managed to send Luka flying back dramatically.
Kane simply glared through Ashley with the most intense stare you can imagine.
"Fine..." Ashley quickly put on a depressed expression and slowly waddled back towards her room.
Kane cracked his knuckles and performed an insanely loud clap that sent shivers down Ashley's spine.
"Energy, Ashley." He firmly stated as Ashley now hurried back to her room. Kane sighed and gripped his nose bridge. "I'm getting old."
Hugh's eyes widened after a few moments.
"You are?! I'm the older brother here, jackass!"
Hugh's tone was half-sarcastic and half-offended. Kane looked up at his big brother's face and glared through him once more. A few seconds is all it took for Hugh to back off.
"Bastard."
"I take after my big brother, he's quite the ass himself."
"BASTARD!"
Rae interrupted Hugh almost putting Kane into a headlock.
"Hey, lovelies, I was meaning to ask you something."
"Shoot, Rae." Hugh was still gripping Kane's head as Kane swiftly escaped the headlock. "Bastard."
"You learned a new word today, didn't you?" Kane dusted his jacket off and made some distance between himself and his big brother.
"Indubitably." Hugh turned towards Rae once more. "Go for it, Rae."
"Is the sanctuary gonna go into lockdown? That's the first time in a while."
"Yeah, it is. Nobody's gonna be able to enter or leave it after you close it down."
"After I close it down?" Rae pointed towards herself in confusion.
"You're gonna be the last person to leave, we're about to head out anyway, as soon as the juniors get ready." Kane lit a cigarette and inhaled a drag of smoke.
"You gonna be away for a while?" Rae gripped the luggage she was now noticeably holding. "I was thinking of returning to my family in The States."
"Of course, love. You best enjoy yourself." Hugh walked up and tightly hugged her.
"And you best not get yourself killed out there, chaps." She chuckled which made Hugh smile.
Kane did the same after a few moments. "Don't worry about it, I'm gonna close it down, I already prepared everything."
The brothers waved Rae off as she climbed out of the sanctuary with her usual positive energy floating around her.
"It's gonna be tough without her." Hugh looked at the floor and strongly exhaled.
"Sad that she can't join us." Kane agreed before rocking his head back and forth a few times.
A few moments of silence followed.
"I swear to everything that is fucking holy if the juniors don't finish in one minute, I'm leaving without them." Hugh's patience ran out as he started walking towards the entrance of the sanctuary. "I need some air."
Kane silently agreed with a strong nod. "KIDS! WE'RE GOING!" Kane shouted into the hallway as loud as he could as he started climbing out of the sanctuary as well.
All it took was a few moments for the juniors to be outside with their luggage all sorted.
"See, that wasn't so fucking hard now, was it? Come on, we should have already been at the train station." Hugh started walking towards the town centre so they could head to the station.
"Hugh's right, kids. Let's pick up the pace." Kane quickly followed Hugh, with the juniors right behind him.
A lot of emotions were shown by the assassins. Although, it seemed like none of them was thinking about the bigger picture at that exact moment. This was an official huge step in the right direction, progress-wise. This was the beginning of one of the strongest groups in the Creed to truly shine on tougher and bigger tasks.
Two very experienced and strong brothers.
A young prodigy with a talent like no other.
And the young assassin who trains the hardest of them all.
If this small group were to refine themselves like a fine diamond, there's no telling who would be able to stop them in their goals.
That "if" is as huge as the importance of stopping the revolution itself.
Progress.
The keyword to look out for in the future.
...
*End of the chapter!
Hope you had a good day and thank you for reading!*
