She hadn't worn leather leggings like these since her Widow days. Sauntering down main street they clung to her legs like a second skin bringing back memories of her Black Widow day's as she strutted down main street late at night towards the diner that had been taken over by the Queens of Darkness and her sister.
Her gauntlets sat over her tan jacket sleeves as she thought through Regina's plans' to infiltrate the Queen's and find out their plans for the sleepy town and the heroes that inhabited it.
The corner of her mouth quirked up as she saw Regina sauntering down the opposite end of the street in a leather knee length skirt and heels.A seductive smirk grew on the Queen's face seeing the tight leather pants that encompassed the long tones legs of the Assassin, temped to forget about their plan and take her back to the mansion the redhead had agreed to move into with her son.
The same thoughts went through the Assassins as they met at the archway that led up to the diner. But their personal plans would have to be put on hold until they figured out why the women in the diner were in Storybrooke.
"You ready for this?" the former Queen asked the redhead once they met in the middle.
"I'm just glad I got back into these pants again" she breathed out as she held out her hand towards the diner, telling the Queen to go first. Amelia followed the Queen up the path and into the diner where they were met with a dark empty diner albeit Ursula, Cruella and the newly resurrected Maleficent sat in a booth together while Anastasia was sat at the bar taking another shot of clear liquid.
"So, the rumors are true" Regina stated to the older sorceress seeing Maleficent alive and well again "You're back from the ashes".
The red headed assassin remained silent as she headed straight to the bar to join her sister snatching a shot out of the blonde's fingers, before throwing the shot of vodka down her own throat.
"Ahh suka" (Bitch) Anastasia drawled out at her sister's actions.
"What are you doing here, Regina?" the sorceress asked keeping a wary eye on the Black Widow across the room.
"Making it easier for you. If you want to try to kill me, I'm right here" The Evil Queen states as Maleficent suddenly disappeared from her seat and re-appeared in front of the younger woman.
"So that's why you think I'm back... To kill you".
"I trapped you underground for thirty years, and you're not big on forgiveness" Regina retorted.
"That's true" Mal drawls out.
"And she looks good for it too" Amelia chimes in making Maleficent look at her giving the powerful sorceress a flirtatious wink "Very good I might add".
"Your compliments and flirty winks won't get you anywhere here assassin" she tells the redhead "They never did".
"So you had noticed them" Amelia reply's with a sly smirk "Cruella on the other hand" she trails off looking towards the heiress in the booth "Maybe you could benefit with a few decade underground" she says earning a scowl from the woman as Maleficent turns back to the Evil Queen.
"What you did, is nothing in the grand scheme. There are far worse crimes that must be answered for" Maleficent tells the Evil Queen.
"Careful, darling" Cruella warned the sorceress from her seat "She is thick as thieves with those heroes" her eye's drifted to the redhead sat on one of the stool's next to Anastasia "They both are. The Widow is even related to them through Regina's boy" the woman suddenly flinched back to see a small dagger embed itself into the wall where her head was previously. Sending a deadly glare at the assassin which was met by a smirk and a chuckling Anastasia laughed at her sister's antics.
"Oops" Amelia taunted wiggling her fingers at the woman in the fur coat with a toothy grin "It slipped".
"You know how much I wanted my revenge" Regina continued "But in this town, we had to play nice to survive. Alone... Watching them enjoy, the happiness we were denied. If you're planning on destroying some of that happiness…".
"We want in" Amelia finished off for the Evil Queen.
"You can't expect us to believe that" Ursula scoffed opposite Cruella.
"Of course, they don't" Maleficent tells sea-witch "That's why they're here. They want us to see they are still one of us" she concludes.
"I am" Regina insists. Maleficent turns to eye the Assassin.
"Mne ne nuzhno tvoye odobreniye, dorogaya" (I don't need your approval, sweetheart) Amelia dryly retorts at the woman making her sister chuckle at her answer.
The sorceress looked towards a chuckling Anastasia for a translation "She say's she is, sweetheart" the young blonde tells her.
"Then let's find out" Maleficent say's giving Regina a shot glass "Are you still a bad girl, Regina?".
Taking the shot glass from Maleficent the Queen shoots the liquid down her neck and crushes the glass in her hand letting the shards fall onto the floor
"The worst".
"I'm sorry. Regina and Amelia are doing what?" Emma questioned her parents as they entered the loft across town. The royal couple had just told her of the latest development that had come from the towns newest residents and the return of the powerful sorceress Emma had 'killed' before she broke the three-decade curse.
"They've gone undercover" David answered as he turned to face her.
"With someone who could turn into a dragon?" she retorted "Are you out of your minds? Why didn't you call me?".
"There wasn't time" her father continued "Regina told us the plan and Amelia agreed with it. That was it".
"You should've told me" she argues with her father.
"Why?" her mother questioned her "You really think you could've stopped them?".
"I could've helped" she answered her mother "I was a bail-bonds person. Pretending to be someone else was part of my job".
"I know that. But I really think Regina can take care of herself. And Lia's been doing this sort of stuff for years, I think its second nature at this point" she says trying to reassure her daughter's concern over the assassin at least.
After the previous nights revelations to Regina the former Prince and Princess were relieved to hear that the redhead was going to help her without any of her secrets coming out to the woman. She trusted her partner enough to blindly go into the undercover work.
"I hope you're right" the savior tells her parents "When are they supposed to check in?" she asked her parent but was met by uncertain silence "Mom? Dad? When are they supposed to check in?" she pressed them
David stilled knowing it had been a while since they had gotten back to them "About an hour ago".
After it seemed they had been accepted into the group Anastasia had insisted on taking the redhead's motorcycle out for a spin. Apparently, she had a fascination about them since coming to the land of no magic even owned a few in New York. But after seeing her own at the town line two days' ago she had been itching to ride it.
So here they were with Anastasia at the front of the bike with her hands on the bars as her older sister held onto her sisters waist behind her as The Duchess rode the bike through the dark country roads that surrounded the sleepy town, seemingly unaware of what the villains were up to.
The wind whipped up her longer red hair as she looked around them with the limited vision she had through the visor as the bike came to a slow stop unaware that her younger sister had stopped them on a train track.
Feeling Anya coming to complete stop, the blonde assassin cut the engine before swinging her leg over the bike to stand on the ground as the blonde remained on the bike.
Pulling the tight helmet off her head redhead let in a deep breath of cold air as she looked around in the pitch black surrounding, not sure where about in Storybrooke they had ended up. Looking back at her sister who had moved from her seat with a curious brow.
"Where are we anyway? I don't recognize this part of town" she asks her as the younger assassin sprinkled something that Mal had slipped into her hand before the pair left the diner to head to the garage the redhead rented out which stored her bike. The small magical particles went undetected by her too trusting sister as they landed on the ground where her sister was stood on.
"You'll see sister" she cryptically tells her sister before turning the key in the ignition, the bike roaring back to life as she revved the engine at the redhead drowning out her voice.
"What?" before she could say anything, Anastasia sped off into the darkness leaving her behind.
"Very funny Anya!" she yelled after her as she went to step off the tracks only to find her feet stuck in place as she heard something that made her stomach drop, looking up she saw the signals flashing the arrival of a train.
"der'mo" (Shit).
Sat in the passenger set of Cruella's Panther, with the woman herself driving and Ursula and Maleficent in the back, the Evil Queen couldn't help but feel apprehensive as she saw Amelia leave with her sister, who wanted to ride the former's death trap of a motorcycle with the woman herself.
She would be lying if she felt a bubble of uncertainty grow as she watched the redhead leave with her long- lost adopted sister, but she couldn't show that in front of the Queens of Darkness. Not ever if they had a chance of gaining their trust.
Amelia was literally walking into this operation blind to the reasons behind it. It was to keep Mary Margaret's secret to her daughter and her childhood hero from finding our what she had done.
One that destroyed someone's happy ending. And the other that would set someone she cared about on a path towards the Black Widow. And out of spite and jealousy that her godfather cared about a girl more than her. She knew she should've never written that damn letter. She should've burnt it as soon as she finished it, but no, she let the girl distract her.
All she remembered from that day was that one minute the letter was there, and the next it wasn't. She had no idea what Amelia would do if the secret ever got out. The redhead just about forgave her. But as the years went by, so did the chance of the former Princess coming clean herself at her mistake and now it was being threatened by being exposed by someone that wasn't Snow White.
The other three had kept their silence of where they were headed as Cruella drove down country roads that surrounded Storybrooke with the dim headlights of the Panther guiding them to their destination.
"Now, will someone please tell me where the hell we're going?" she asked the other's in the car having grown tired of the silence of the other witches.
"What? And spoil all the fun?" Cruella retorted as she continued to drive "You'll find out soon enough".
"Fine" she accepted the answer "But out of... Professional curiosity, I have to know, just... How did you two resurrect her?" she asked Cruella and Ursula.
"First things first" Maleficent spoke up from the backseat "You see, some of us don't exactly trust you or your little assassin. So with young Anastasia's help we've created a small test for you" the Panther crawled to a stop in the middle of the road as they waited for another set of flashlights that came from a motorcycle approach them.
Winding down her window, the rider stopped next to them, hearing the signal warning them of an incoming train across the road.
"She's all yours, ladies" Regina recognized Anastasia's voice straight away.
"Well done darling" Cruella drawled out to the younger woman in the motorcycle "Now we get to enjoy the show".
Regina's heart sped up in panic as Cruella turned the headlights on full blast to reveal Amelia on the train track's seemingly stuck on the crossing.
"Melia" she breathed out in panic as the red head continued to try to move her legs from the tracks as they heard the train approaching.
"Cute" Ursula drawled out behind her "You have a nickname for her".
"What are you doing?" Regina demands out of the other women in the car turning in her seat to face them.
"Playing my favorite game" Cruella answered, "It's called 'Don't be a Hero'. First one that saves her loses".
Regina sat back in her seat to see that Anya had left Amelia's bike to prowl in front of the stuck assassin. She could see Amelia's lips moving with an angry look on her face as she argued with her adopted sister.
"You got to be kidding me" the former Queen exasperates with the others.
"You don't like it, then just poof her out of here" Ursula simply tells her.
She had to cover her eyes with her arm at the sudden bright lights that had blinded her. as her eye's adapted to the light she opened them to only see Anya in front of her with the bright light behind her as she heard the train coming from her right.
"Trouble sister?" Anya's voice rings through her ears as the crossing alarm continues to ring out.
"Get me out of here. Now!" she exclaims at her little sister.
"I'm afraid I can't, it'll be up to your Queen to save you or not" she tells her before she moves out of the way, the light that blinded her dimmed enough so that she could see Regina in the passenger seat of Cruella's Panther looking straight back at her.
"You tricked me" she spits at her sister, taking her eye's off her partner.
"You trust too easily; it looks like you have forgotten Mentor Claudius's lessons already" she drawled as she prowled back and forth in front of her.
"Are you kidding me?!" she angrily spat out, as she tried to move her feet once again "Screw what Claudius taught us, The bastard betrayed us all when he banished Romeo!" she yelled over the oncoming train.
"You betrayed everyone when you started killing us off one by one!" the duchess angrily retorted.
"I'll will fucking kill you now if you don't get me out of here!" she screamed over the train horn as it came close enough for to be defeated by the noise.
Just as she knew it was too late, she felt her feet move freely beneath her as she bent her knees ready to jump when a cloud of purple smoke engulfed her. She felt herself move as she ended up on her ass next to the racing train in front of Anastasia.
"Good trip sister?" a voice said above her, looking up she felt her mind cloud over in red anger as she swept her legs under the Anastasia's feet sending the blonde assassin onto the floor where Amelia jumped straddling the younger woman with a hidden blade ready to plunge into her flesh, only for the younger woman to reverse the move, sending the two pedigree assassins into another fight that would only see one victor.
Regina sat in the car and watched Amelia and Anastasia fight between themselves from shouting expletives as the train horn rang out drowning out the argument as she relented closing her eye's and moving Amelia out of harm's way onto the ground next to Anya as the train ran past them.
She opened her eye's to see Amelia on her backside with Anya standing over her. she saw the younger woman say something before Amelia sweeping her legs under Anastasia grabbing the woman, grappling one another fighting for dominance.
Feeling three pairs of eyes on her as she let her actions settle with the other's "Come on. Don't look at me like that" Regina tells them.
"I told you she'd gone soft, Mal. Pay up" Cruella reached back with an open palm as the latter placed a piece of jewelry into her hand.
"She's just rusty" Maleficent tells the others "It doesn't mean anything. What do you think? Are we playing too rough for you?".
"I think we should get out of here..." The queen tells the others before smirk grows on her lips "And go find some real trouble" the she suggests to the others as they heard screams of anger outside of the car.
They all looked out the front to see Amelia and Anastasia locked in a grapple that had them rolling around on the road in front of them in a flurry of hair pulling, name calling in different languages and even some nail scratching as they tried to find leverage over the other in to two equally matched women.
"As amusing at this is to watch darlings" Cruella was the one to speak up as the two female assassins continued to fight "I think we should stop this before they kill one another. They won't be much use if they're both dead".
Rolling her eyes at the pair of sister's Regina flicked her wrist out making the two women fly across the ground away from each other with groans of pain coming from both woman. This was going to be a long night for all of them.
He wasn't sure how he felt about his mother going undercover with Regina as he and Henry stood in the pawn shop going over the storybook page Henry had found in Augusts belongings last night. But he did know he had to be weary around his Aunt Anastasia after their conversation at the dining table. He just needed to convince her that her sister wasn't the bad guy, or at least, she wasn't anymore.
Whenever he had second thoughts about something his mother told him to trust his gut with these things. It was an assassin's best weapon in a fight, it told them when to back off and when to go on the offensive. And at the moment his gut was telling him he trusted her as Belle walked into the main shop floor with two plates of doughnuts for them.
His gut also told him he was hungry as he smelt the sweet treat.
"Hey. So, um, is... Is that the page that August took out of the storybook?" Belle asked the boys "Did you find anything?" she added as he tried not to look at the sweet treat in her hand.
"I think this door somehow has something to do with the author" her step-grandson tells her "We just have to figure out where it is".
"You will" she tells them with a caring smile handing the plates to the pair "Here". The teen gratefully took his plate and dug into his treat as Henry continued to search the page with a magnifying glass.
"Come on, August. What are you trying to tell me?" the younger boy urged the page to tell him something that might help them. Glancing up he saw Tom licking his fingers clean of the sugar coated doughnut.
"Hey, have you talked to your Mom lately?" he asks hoping if his adopted mother had taken his advise to ask Amelia to move in with them. The teen looked at him like a deer caught in headlights.
Wiping his fingers on hoodie he still as he thinks about how to answer his best friend. Before her Mom had disappeared off the face of the earth she had pulled his aside to talk about what happened when she had to cancel their training for the day to deal with her sister after their encounter with Ursula and Cruella at Granny's. But she asked him about moving in with Regina and Henry at the house.
Before Anastasia he would be jumping at the chance to move in with his best friend, but after her warning about getting in the way. He didn't want Henry getting hurt if she decided to come back. He was telling himself he was looking out for Henry like she asked him to, by putting distance between them, he would be able to keep everyone safe.
The decision would be up to him in the end, even if she had already said yes to Regina.
"Uh yeah" he slowly answered his best friend "She asked about us moving into the house".
"And would you?" Henry asked with a curious brow.
"I dunno. Isn't it a little fast? I mean the house is big and everything and we've been living there over the last few weeks..." he tried to downplay the decision as Belle overheard the conversation.
"Well they have been together on and off over the last few years and they did live in a palace before that. What difference would it make now?" Henry shrugged at him.
"You" Tom tells him taking his friend by surprise "I mean you go between the loft and the house all the time..".
"Maybe I can ask grandma and grandpa to let you come stay with us".
"They're not my family. Not really, I'll just be in the way" he argued to Henry hating every word that came out of his mouth. He wanted to throw up more than the time in the woods when they were looking for the ice-cream truck.
Belle couldn't believe what she was hearing from the teenager. This wasn't Tom. She had no idea what this was all coming from but she needed to find out.
"N-No you wouldn't" her step-grandson weakly argue as Belle heard the hurt in his voice.
"Doesn't matter anyway. Mom said to think about it until they figured out why the witches are with them. I don't need to decide right now" at that the teen left the subject as it was.
Hurrying to Granny's diner in her yellow bug, Sheriff Swan came to a screeching halt as she saw Hook coming out of the diner where the witches and assassins had spent most of last night trashing after not hearing anything from the Mayor or bar owner all night. Getting out of car without parking she rounds the car to meet her boyfriend on the sidewalk.
"Find anything in there?" the blonde asked the pirate as she headed straight to the diner, making Hook gently grabbing her arm and guiding her away from the scene he and Granny had witnessed.
"Well, a burned table, broken bottles, a few knifes in the wall, uh, and a very irate Granny" He listed off "Apparently, Regina, the assassins and the witches drank the place dry. I'd say they won them over" he tells her with an amused smirk, remembering the colorful message about the Captain of the Jolly Roger using ketchup and mustard that had been smeared onto the wall.
"Unless that's exactly what they wanted them to think" Emma theorized to him.
"Look, I know you're worried, but we don't even know what happened yet".
"That's what's worrying me. They're not at home. They're not in their office or bar. My parents are gonna check her vault, and Lia's apartment but...".
"And you fear the worst" Killian interrupted her rambling.
"I can't help but think, if the undercover thing worked, if they've got the situation under control, then why the hell aren't either of them back yet?".
"Maybe this was a bad idea" Mary Margaret voiced her worries to her husband as she and David drove in his truck around the country roads for any sign of the Queen or the Assassin. The Charming family hadn't heard from the women all night "If something happened to Regina or Lia..." she trailed off shaking her head
"No, like you said, she'll be fine" David tried to reassure his wife in the passenger seat of his truck "She can take care of herself. And if she can't, Amelia will be there to pick up the pieces like she's been doing for years".
"Look!" Mary Margaret suddenly exclaimed gaining her husband's attention as she pointed out a burn police car at the side of the road David stops the car as the pair climbed out and approached burnt out car.
"That's one of my sheriff's cars" David tells his wife as he looks at what was left of one of the sheriff's car "What the hell happened?".
"Maleficent happened" a voice answered, the couple turned to see Regina a little worse for wear and Amelia with large sunglasses covering her eye's approach them "And that is her idea of a good time".
"Regina Lia…" Mary Margaret breathed out a sigh of relief "Are you both okay? What happened last night?" her shrill voice made the assassin wince out on pain. Why was she so loud?.
"We had to prove ourselves" Regina answered for the pair "Which meant some drinking, some burning, and lots of destruction-".
"Don't' forget about the train that nearly killed me, honey" Amelia reminded her partner through the splitting headache looking at the charred sheriff's car "Sorry about the car" she tells David "I think it was my idea to steal it, I can't really remember anything after 1 AM" she groaned out as her head thumped against her skull.
"You really shouldn't be here" Regina tells the couple "Next time, we have to meet covertly".
"Next time?" David questioned her "You didn't find out what they're planning?".
"Could you stop shouting please" the redhead suddenly groaned out as her ears rang out once more in protest. One major downside to excessive drinking for assassin with sixth sense.
"Sorry" David supplied with an apologetic smile.
The hangovers were worse than anything imaginable as all her senses tried to balance themselves back out again, which caused the splitting headache than made her want to lay down on the ground and fall asleep, and hope she would never wake up again. She needed a couple dozen of her healing tonics to ease everything down.
Even Regina's comforting touch would make her flinch in pain which meant the former Queen had to keep her hands to herself unless she wanted a slap, which would only be painful for both of them in the end as it felt like her nerves have been wired up to a car battery. And don't get her started on her eyesight as even the sunglasses she was wearing were doing nothing to keep the daylight out.
"It was one night" Regina argued for the pair trying to keep her voice down for her partner's sake "But I did find out they're hiding something. Something incredibly powerful".
"Well, what is it?" Mary Margaret asked Regina.
"I don't know".
"So, the only thing you accomplished was property destruction?".
"Don't forget the robbery and arson" Amelia added with a quivering smirk "And the explicit graffiti on Granny's wall". If the hangover wasn't going to kill her, Granny was.
"I accomplished trust" Regina continued "Last time, I had to come to Maleficent. This time, she'll come to me".
As the sun rose in east to start the new day dawning on the town of Storybrooke. Gold had been left alone in his cabin in the woods to hide from the rest of the rest of the world all night as he waited for the witches and the young assassin to return. Stood at the roaring fireplace he had to let out his frustrations with the women he had entrusted on doing their part of the deal on the logs that burnt, stoking it as the door behind him opened.
Whirling around he was greeted with the women themselves letting themselves in with Anastasia herself trailing behind them
"Well, where the hell have you been all night?" he greeted the women as they walked in.
"Don't be nasty" Maleficent retorted at the grumpy man hanging up her jacket by the door "Regina and Amelia came to find us. We had some catching up to do" she tells him as the Queen's gathered with him around the fireplace while Anastasia voted for slumping in one of the armchair's, completely spent from he nights activities with her sister and her girlfriend.
She forgot how fun her sister was when she was drunk. It reminded her of the days when they would sneak into the tavern in Monteriggioni to out-drink the biggest mercenaries conning the men out of the coin they had earned from a job, before either Romeo or Ophelia busted them and sent them home to sleep the drink off beofre they were sent before Claudius the next morning.
More often than not their Mentor would give them a slap on the wrist seeing the hypocrisy of his Master Assassin's doing the same when they were home from a contract. But when he wasn't so forgiving, Amelia would usually take the fall for any punishment for being the elder of the two.
Hearing the names, Gold interest piqued "What where they after?" he asks the powerful sorceress.
"They were sniffing around for information" Ursula informed him from the fireplace.
"I assume you didn't tell them I'm what you're hiding".
"Oh, we were careful, darling" Cruella reassures him "She doesn't know a thing, especially your little niece".
"Very interesting plan, bringing us all together" Maleficent compliments the Dark One.
"My plan's just beginning. But Regina does present an intriguing possibility. As does Amelia".
"Do you really think they'll help us?".
"Heartbreak turned her and my niece into monster's once. And now Amelia's heart's been broken a new. Not only did she lose her husband again, she's lost another love and is in great pain not even her Queen could soothe away".
"As you and I both know-" Maleficent started.
"Il dolore ti rende più forte" Anastasia speaks up from her place in the chair making the other's look at her "Pain makes you stronger" she translates to the others voicing the teaching the Brotherhood had taught her and Amelia.
"Indeed it does" Gold states "When war hits Storybrooke, everyone's gonna have to pick a side, including Regina and Amelia".
"And what war is that?".
"Oh, the one we're about to start. And tonight... We're gonna throw the first punches".
Everything ached. Her body had never ached like it had the morning after the night before. Sometime during the night the group had ended up in the vault and by the way her end of the vault had been left, she and Anastasia had a little too much fun with the weapons that were display around the room. And she had just finished cleaning up after the Spell of Shattered Sight. Without Regina's help she might add.
Bottle's of wine had been shattered on the ground with glasses left everywhere in various state's of broken from small chips to the rim and bases to ones that didn't even resemble glasses. Looking towards her the displays of her robes she was thankful they had been left untouched, especially the white one she hadn't worn yet as she vaguely remembered Anya slipping on her Black Widow robe.
After downing three vials of her healing tonic her nerves had finally calmed down enough for her to be able to pull out a solid gold dagger she got from King Midas that had been embedded into a wooden cabinet biting back the wave of dizziness and nausea that had plagued her all morning making her pinch the bridge of her nose until it went away.
Changing into a fresh set of clothes she kept in the vault and painting a fresh layer of makeup on her face remembering to draw her eyeliner just a little thicker than she likes, she walked out securing her black leather jacket around her waist paired with matching jeans and heeled boot's, she find's Anastasia stood in the middle of her vault with one of 'The Twins' in her hand that she had just spent 10 minutes trying get them to balance again on its plinth.
"Put that back, now" she tells the blonde. She didn't need this now.
"You look like shit" Anastasia tells her as see puts the dagger back perfectly back in it's place. No amount of makeup was going to cover the fact she felt exactly how her sister described her.
"Thanks" Amelia replied sarcastically with smile.
"We had fun last night" the blonde observed looking at the mess they had caused on the floor. Wine glasses were left broken around the room.
"What do you want Anya, I don't have the patience for whatever this is".
"I came to give you these" her sister told her holding out her palm toward the red head to reveal two round painkillers in her hand "This worlds version of magic. We need you and Regina sharp tonight. It's not poison I swear".
"I know what those are, and I'm good thanks" the redhead says folding her arms across her chest "And for what exactly? I don't think I can stomach being a part of a test again".
"No more tests I promise" Anya tell her as she make's herself comfortable on a trunk "You want to know why we're in town don't you?".
"Not if it involves me stuck on a train track again" she says making her sister laugh to herself.
"You have to admit, that was super funny" she says through her laughter "You were like 'Ahhh get me off this or I'll kill you'" she mimics her. Poorly she might add.
"Get to the point or I'm leaving" she deadpans to her sister.
"Fine" the blonde scoff's at her "You are such a downer in your old age. Did you know that?".
"See ya" at that the redhead heads to the exit only for Anastasia's next sentence to stop her.
"We're after the same thing your Queen wants…The Author".
"How do you know about him?" the redhead asks turning back to face the blonde.
"Rumpelstiltskin" she answered "He spilled the whole story to Cruella back in New York".
"Well good luck. We've been looking for months with nothing to show".
"We?" she stated at her sister "An odd choice of words seeing as you seem not as driven as the Queen is to find him. Trouble sister?" Anastasia questioned her "I mean you have what you've wanted for years now. You have her. Why change that? If two are so happy together, why would she be looking for the author to change her story. Aren't you good enough already? Aren't you scared if her story changes so do her feelings for you?".
"Your fishing sister" Amelia said getting agitated by the woman words "It's not a good look on you".
"I'm just stating facts sister" Anya said offhandedly "But if you wish to continue in finding your author, we have a job to do first".
"What's the job?".
After their respective visits from Anastasia and Maleficent, the Queen and her Assassin had contacted the Charming couple to meet them covertly in the library after hours before they met up Anya and Mal again. The words that came from her sister's mouth had stayed with her for longer that she wanted them to.
Because she had thought of them as the weeks went by. Maybe that's why she was certain about moving into the house with her. To have all the time she could have with her before anything changed. She wanted to move in because she didn't want to keep leaving the woman she loved and the boy who was becoming more of a son to her than a cousin, not because she thought she would be losing time with her.
She was scared of losing her. And losing her terrified her. Shaking the thoughts from her mind she knew they were solid despite the resent rumblings. She wouldn't let her sister's words get to her. Not now. That's what they want. Drive a wedge between them, put doubt in her mind over Operation Mongoose, distract her.
Hiding behind the bookshelves, they waited for the couple to arrive as her eyes skimmed over the spines of the book's that surrounded them trying to kill the time they had to wait.
Regina noticed her partner's uneasiness as she looked anywhere but at her as she pulls out a book from the shelve and opens it's cover making her partner scoff at her "Your going to read now of all times?".
Holding the book up to the former Queen, she clearly see's the title and it's author on it's cover.
"Macbeth. A classic" Amelia corrects her "I actually knew a Lady Macbeth once. Nice woman, made nice bread. Her husband.. well... wasn't" she grimaced to herself.
"What did Anastasia say to you?" Regina asked her knowing what was behind her sudden interest in the play.
"Nothing more than what Mal said to you, said we have a job to do. I don't know what".
"What else did she say?".
"What make you think she said something else?".
"Well seeing as you've hardly said anything since getting here" Amelia didn't answer as she heard the door to the library open for the Charming couple. She felt Emma's magic before she entered the building she was followed by her Captain.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me" she hissed to herself hearing the door to the library opening sensing the extra people with Mary Margaret and David.
"Hey, we're here" David quietly announced to the shelves.
Rounding the corner and forgetting about her book, they were met with the couple plus Emma and Hook "We said we needed to meet covertly" Regina scolds the couple "Now I see you brought the entire Charming softball team and their pirate mascot?".
"We were worried about you" Mary Margaret replies.
"Well, then worry quickly" Amelia snapped at them "We can't be seen with all of you".
"Regina. Lia. Listen to me" Emma spoke up making the pair look at the blonde savoir "This is a bad idea. This woman, this dragon, she's dangerous, and you don't know the first thing about going undercover" Amelia rolled her eye's at the savior.
"I'm a quick study" Regina retorts making the assassin scoff at her "And Maleficent already told me why they're here" Regina argued with the blonde "Apparently, they're after the author, too. I simply want him to change my fate".
"What do they want?".
"They want to shift the entire balance so that villains win and heroes lose" Amelia informed them "They feel the only way to get their happy ending is to destroy yours".
"Do you think they can find the author?".
"They have a lead, we don't" Regina stated "And tonight, they want me to help them steal it... Whatever it is".
"I'm telling you, these things never end well" Emma voice her concerns to the women in front of her.
'"I understand your concern, but we're in" Regina argued.
"Okay, well, then I'm in too".
"What?".
"I'm gonna stick by you. I'm gonna get your back while you do this".
"No. It's too dangerous" Regina retorted.
"I said I was a part of Operation Mongoose. I am a part of it. You wanted my help... Now you're gonna get it No matter what it means for both of us. Whatever she has planned tonight, I'll be there".
"Then you better keep away from me and Anya" Amelia added making the family look to her "Anya may not possess our sight, but she will know if we're being followed".
"You think that's a good idea?" Emma questioned the red head "Killian can follow" she suggested.
"Well, if you want pirate Pelmeni for dinner tomorrow be my guest" Amelia's green eyes slid over to the man in question "No offence"
"None taken, love" he replied with a tight smirk.
"Anya won't hurt me" Amelia continued on "..or at least until she gets what she wants, but when it comes down to it we were raised in the same Brotherhood, that mean's something none of you understand. If I play this right, we'll be getting all the answers we want. You need to trust me".
After a brief pause Emma looked Amelia in the eye's as she answered "We do".
With folded arms the redheaded assassin waited for her sister to show up outside the Inn at the agreed time as she tired her best to keep warm as the wind whipped up her long hair while Regina was doing the same outside the library a block away.
The street laid silent until the low rumblings of the motorcycle Anastasia is currently 'borrowing' rolled up and stopped in front of her. kicking out the stand the blonde rested the bike allowing her to pull the helmet off her head and looked at her older sister like nothing was wrong.
"Your late" Amelia scolded her sister's tardiness, annoyance lacing her voice.
"You're just early sister" the duchess retorted swinging her leg over the bike to step onto the sidewalk "I had to make sure none of the hero's were following me".
"Are we going to stand on ceremony all night, or are you going to tell me what our job is?".
"Rumple told us that a Piece of Eden was here" Anastasia tells her "Where is it?".
Anastasia's question was only met by a pair of furrowed brows and a look of confusion as the redhead wondered why they would need something that doesn't even work anymore. Every bit of energy that it held went through her went straight into the trigger.
"It's useless now, nothing but a burnt of burnt out peice of metal" she argued "Like the sheriff's car last night".
"Never mind what condition its in. We need it. Do you want find your love's happy ending, because this is how we find it" the blonde tells her older sister.
Amelia let out a huff of annoyance snatching the helmet out of her sisters hands knowing exactly where it had been left "Fine. Follow me, we have a long ride".
The sisters stayed in comfortable silence as they trekked the dark woods to the mine where she last used the Piece of Eden. It almost felt like a lifetime ago when she joined Regina in the mines to stop the dark star trigger from destroying Storybrooke. It was the first time Regina told her she loved her.
Their footsteps crunched the dead leaves beneath their feet as Amelia lead Anya through the forest to their destination with flashlights in hand and Amelia's 'sight' leading them through the dark.
"Tell me sister" Anya suddenly said breaking the comfortable silence between them "Where did you think I was all this time?".
"I thought that you got out and were living a normal life" she answered her sister.
"And you just never made contact again?".
"Honestly, the way we left things, I thought you didn't wanna see me".
"Bullshit" she scoffs "You just didn't want your baby sister to tag along, whilst you served your Queen and Rumpelstiltskin".
"You weren't really my sister" the redhead tries to argue.
"And the heroes aren't really your family" Anastasia retorted going back into silence as they continued to trek the woods. The blonde assassin decided to change the subject.
"That thing you do when you're fighting" she stop making the redhead stop and look back to seen her sister crouched on the ground with her leg and arm stretched out "The..like,the.." she continued as she whips her tied up hair back and forth "This thing that you do when you whip your hair when your fighting and the arm and the hair" she says earned a chuckle from her older sister "And you do like a fighting pose".
"I don't do that" she argued.
"It's a fighting pose. You're a total poser" Anya tells her before standing back up straight laughing at her sister's expense only to get an eye roll from the redhead before they continued on with their late night trek.
"Oh, come on" The blonde continued as she caught up to her sister "I mean they're great poses, but it does look like you think everyone's looking at you, like all the time".
"All that time I spent posing. I was trying to actually do something good to make up for the pain and suffering that I caused" Amelia voiced to her sister "Trying to be more than just a trained killer".
"Well then you were fooling yourself, because pain and suffering is every day and we are both still a trained killer. Except I'm not the one that's on the cover of a magazine. I'm not the killer that little girls call their hero".
"That was one magazine, and it wasn't a whole cover, I barely got a corner" she argued thinking back to the cover she must've seen. It was the one weeks ago headlining the new royal birth.
"Why did you follow the hero's way after so long?" Anastasia asked her.
"Why are you so interested?" Amelia rebutted as they came to the entrance of the mine that held the object they were after.
"Call it curiosity" she answered following her sister lighting up the graveled mine floor "I heard what the Black Widow did back home. To get her revenge against our Brother's. I must say I was impressed with the fear it caused among the peasants, they'd say they feared you more than the Queen at times".
"Fear is an effective tool" Amelia told her "….or that's what I learnt".
"That doesn't explain why you would want to work with the Princess and her Charming husband now" Anastasia continued "You've spent years hunting down our old family and yet here you are trying to get back onto the mean girls table".
Amelia felt relief as they finally came to the spot the trigger was two years ago. With her flashlight Anya highlights the burnt-out husk that was the once bronze ball that held so much power. She remembered feeling every ounce of power that from it as she filtered it into Regina and the trigger.
It consumed every nerve and cell in her body so much that there wasn't anything else that could ever come close to it. To be truly powerful. Something she thinks even her Uncle would be envious of. To have wielded all that power only to waste it away to try and save people who had only ever seen her as the villain.
Piking up the burnt and charred orb she held it in her hand to show her sister as the younger assassin aimed the light of her torch on it. No power waves of power came rolling off the object even a non-magic user would be able to feel.
"See, burnt out" Amelia stated turning it around her hand to show "Useless".
"It's won't matter. Come, we've what we've come for" Anya stated heading for the entrance of the mines.
Following their trip to the mines Anya led her sister through the woods to leaving the redhead to wonder where they were going until she recognized the trail that she had only been down a couple of times herself over the last few weeks. The dim light coming from the cabin lite up the rest of the way as they got closer to the private home that was owned by her Uncle.
"My Uncle's Cabin?" Amelia voiced in confusion to her sister as their feet met the hardwood deck that surrounded the cabin "What are we doing here?".
"Every Assassin needs a hideout" Anastasia tell her "I just happen to share it with four others".
"Four?" she questioned her sister as they let themselves into the cabin to see that Regina and Maleficent were already there as she heard a voice she hadn't heard in weeks come from a dark doorway.
"That's right, dearie. It's me" Rumpelstiltskin announces his presence to his former student and his niece stepping out of the darkness with his dagger in his hand as she comes to stand next to the Evil Queen.
"Ah Amelia, Anastasia. You've made it just in time" he greeted the assassins's as her sister shuts the cabin door behind them.
"You didn't really think I'd stay banished for long, now, did you?" he questioned them both.
Regina only smiled at her old teacher "No. We didn't" she answered for them as he eyed them both.
"I learned quite a bit about myself on my little journey outside Storybrooke. You were right, Regina. Sometimes the teacher needs to learn from the student. And sometimes... You need to fall very far... To finally see the light".
"Well, then you've finally accepted the same truth I have. You can't get your happy ending without finding the author. I suppose that puts us on the same side".
"I suppose it does" he says before he looks to his niece "Did you get what I requested?" at that the redhead holds out to her sister to have the burnt out Apple of Eden placed in the palm of her hand before presenting it to him, showing her partner what her part of the job was that night.
"Sorry" she says offering it to the Dark One "Didn't have time to wrap it" she stated with a toothy smirk. His own smirk plays on his face seeing how his niece once again didn't disappoint him.
"Keep it for now. All will be revealed soon enough" he says as the cabin door opens to Cruella and Ursula to enter the cabin with a sleeping Pinocchio in the heiresses arms before she placed him in an armchair.
"And now, with the help of the real boy you've acquired, we can take our first steps" Gold tells them as he looks between the couple as they were the only ones now standing in his way.
"What are you going to do?" Regina questions him.
"Step aside, and I'll show you" he says as he sees the way Amelia held the Apple in her hands, like she was fighting her own instincts to stop him from hurting the boy Or "Have you both gone soft?" he questions them.
A light chuckle leaves the pair as they both looked to each other the way they did decades ago, the silent conversation that told him they were both on the same page he was.
"Never" the Queen tells him.
"I think we had him worried for a there second, Queenie" the redhead adds stepping back to allow him to step forward.
"What a relief" he says before he approaches the sleeping boy with the older sorceresses and the duchess stood around the chair he was slumped in.
"You see, we're not gonna ask young Pinocchio here to remember anything... Because he can't. No amount of torture will work on him. But it will succeed on the man he used to be".
With a wave of his dagger the Dark One turns the sweet innocent Pinocchio in the man that thought he would be able to take on the Black Widow himself only to discover that had been cursed along with the rest of the town.
August opens his eyes to see the villains that now surrounded him "Welcome back, August. Now... Shall we begin?".
Leaving the other's to start their work with August inside without the trained assassins. Anastasia found her sister leaning against the wooden railing looking out into the lake with two beer bottles in her hand and a first-aid kit tucked under her arm.
"Drink sister?" the Duchess offered the Black Widow.
"No thanks, still hungover from the other night" the red head answers her not wanted to touch another drop for a very, very long time.
"Can't handle your drink now old woman?" she teased placing the first aid kit down.
"A bottle of wine is is my limit not the whole of Granny's" Amelia retorted "Besides, I wasn't the one Master Iago caught in the wine cellar throwing up all over the Claudius new robes that one time" she teased her sister with a knowing smile.
"I was fifteen!" she whined out in offence "and you dared me!" Anastasia retorted angrily which only made the redhead laugh next to her which the blonde eventually laughed along as she took off her over shirt revealing a cut on the blonde upper arm that made the redhead take pause.
"When did you do that?" Amelia ask her seeing the deep cut on her bicep. The redhead's mothering took over as she took the box from her sister's grasp to treat the cut.
"It's just a scratch" Anya hissed out in pain as Amelia bathed the cut with anti-septic liquid.
"That is not a scratch, and you didn't answer my question" the redhead used her hands either side of the cut and gently blew to dry it, having become an expert again on patching up cuts and bruises ever since she and Tom had started training again.
Declining every offer from Regina to healing it with magic over the last few weeks as she wanted him to learn from the mistake he had made get them. Out in the real world there wasn't always going to be someone like Regina to be there to heal every little cut or bruise. Her lessons seemed to getting through as he dodged the same move he got hurt from, even managing to parry her.
"Your Queen gets jealous when she's drunk" her sister tells her secretly enjoying having her sister's full attention on her "Did you ever look for our father?" Anastasia asks changing the subject.
"And here I thought Rumple filled you all in" Amelia said as she grabbed a dressing for the cut.
"He did, I'm just…curious, thats all" she tells her.
"I did once" she admits "A long time ago".
"What made you stop?".
"I lost faith I guess, I thought if our brothers could still be alive in other realms even after I got out, that he was still there. I felt this tether being tugged, telling me to keep looking, after a while I learnt to ignore it" she continued as she wrapped the white bandage around the dressings.
"Did you ever feel it again after the curse?".
"Only on Neverland. And I'm glad that I pulled back now, otherwise I would've never had known what happened to him. Never been able to say goodbye".
"Was it quick?".
"Quicker than falling asleep" she answered her sister as she though how quickly the dream-shade had taken over "One minute he was there telling me how much he regretted not taking me as far away from the Creed when he had the chance, and the next-" she stops herself saying the next few words as they were still too painful to say to her sister.
"-But there's part of me that's glad he didn't get a chance to do that".
"Why?" the blonde assassin asked her in confusion. Why was she happy she stayed and suffered under their Master's thumbs for that long.
"Because we would've never found you" Amelia tells her "Out of everything about that place, you were the one thing keeping me from completely giving up most days".
"Your Welcome, I guess" she shrugs at the redhead as the pair paused looking out into the lake.
"You can't trust him you know" Amelia suddenly tells her, turning her head to face her sister. If there was one person that had a chance of turning against Gold it would be her.
"Who sister?" the blonde assassin asks with a raised brow.
"Rumple. The second you're not of use to him he'll discard you, like he does with everyone else, especially family".
"You're going to give me some big hero speech. I can feel it".
A smile grew on the redhead's face at her sister's words "Hope speeches aren't really my thing. I usually left that to the Charming's. I just followed".
"And where had that gotten you sister?".
"Well it's gotten me here. There's only so far hope speeches and faith can take even the purest hero, even if that's such a thing. Hope and Faith doesn't drive people like us to a target. Action does. And action is going to take us to the Author".
"Even if he write's you out of the Queen's story?".
"Even then. Because it's something she wants and I'm not standing in the way of something that's going to make her happy".
"You really love her, don't you?" Anastasia asks her.
"If that's what love is. Sometime I think back to what my mother did for Romeo. She gave up an entire belief system she had been raised on to be with him. She literally went into the lions den with no way of escaping if they ever found out, and she couldn't go back to the Templar's if they found out where she had been all that time. She trusted him to keep her safe even if he couldn't promise he would come home again from a mission".
"What about Rumple? She was his sister, she could've gone to him".
"I don't know. Maybe she thought he was too far gone to remember he still had family. Certainly didn't care when he recruited me, Instead he let me dig myself deeper into a pit of darkness of my own doing. But he made me stronger for it. Il dolore ti rende più forte".
"Pain makes you stronger" Anastasia repeats back to her "What about you?" Can I trust you?".
"What does your gut tell you?" Amelia asked her little sister. The same question their father would ask them when the question came up.
The blonde paused as she looked into her sister's eye's for any clue that told her she would stab her in the back, any twitch. There was nothing. She could only see the girl underneath the woman that stared back at her that had soothed away her nightmares of the man with a long black beard killing her family. The same girl that had taken the blame for her own mistakes.
She knew the thin white scars that littered the redhead's back, marking every mistake she had ever made. Some littered her own back but she knew how much more were on her sister's back in comparison. Each scar was proof of her love for her sister.
"I do".
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
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