*Alright, let's see if I publish this before the New Year.
Happy holidays everyone!*
...
"Alright, you two! You can both head over to the blacksmith's and let her know the specifications. Dismissed!" Kane shouted as he clapped his hands in the rhythm of his speech pattern.
"Let's go!"
"Right!"
Both Luka and Ashley looked at each other with excitement, like a bunch of kids heading to the candy shop, and ran off to the blacksmith.
After the ruckus cleared up, Hugh and Kane began their little celebration.
"You want some beer, brother?" Hugh went over to a nearby table with drinks set up on it and grabbed two glasses and a bottle.
"Top me off, this is worth celebrating!" Kane happily accepted a glass and began pouring beer into it.
"What about that, eh? Some interesting weapon choices." Hugh noted as he grabbed his bottle.
"It does suit their characters though..." Kane turned as he began explaining. "Ashley's entire gimmick is being undetected, agile and being a part of the shadows. A long-ranged, very accurate and easily concealable weapon suits her entirely."
Hugh took a big sip of his beer as he listened closely.
"On the other hand, you have the explosive infighter, Luka. He is someone who brute forces his way through the conflict, which is not very common for an assassin, but they come up now and again. Although I must admit, I expected a shorter-ranged weapon than the Billhook. It's more like a spear than a staff." Kane gripped the bottom of his chin as he deeply thought about it. "He'll more than likely compensate for it with his secondary weapons. The Billhook will only be effective at controlling the distance and that's something he's entirely aware of, I'm sure of it."
Kane finished his sentence as he grabbed his glass and sat down, clearly trusting in his student.
"No doubt about that. But, it does entirely match his explosive temper and endurance. The Billhook takes one hell of a body to handle, and it can generate lots of force, even if it is built more like a spear." Hugh downed his glass of beer and poured himself a new one.
"You got that right. Hopefully, they won't give Rae much trouble."
...
"Slow down, kids. You're giving me a headache here."
The most tanned, muscular, experienced and wise woman you could think of couldn't be a better fit for a blacksmith. She placed a hammer she has been using on a piece of metal on a nearby metal desk as she took both of her gloves off.
"Now, from the top, one at a time. Your initiation just concluded, right? What do you have in store for me this time?"
Luka and Ashley could barely stand still from their excitement, but they composed themselves just enough.
Rae turned towards Luka as she looked in his eyes full of joy.
"Luka, go for it, baby."
"I was considering my primary weapon to be a Billhook, as well as two single-handed German maces as my secondary..."
"That's good, baby, that's good. We can discuss the rest later. I just need the general idea for tonight." Rae lifted a finger to shush Luka for a moment in a friendly manner as she turned over towards Ashley. "What about you, love? What's your name and what do you have in mind for me?"
"I'm Ashley, lovely to meet you! I was thinking about a folding compound bow, and a wonderful little dagger as my secondary."
Rae smiled warmly as she nodded in confirmation.
"Beautiful, my loves, beautiful. Right, you two at least got some interesting concepts, unlike just a casual sword and axe. I can work with this." She turned around once more as she grabbed a glove and placed the piece of metal she was working on into the furnace. "Come back to me within the new few days, babies. I got some things to take care of first. Get out of here, now."
Rae smirked as she dismissed them both friendly.
Luka and Ashley began walking out as Rae shouted something out.
"Oh, by the way, Ashley, was it?" Ashley turned around as she and Luka stopped walking. "Speak to Hugh, he knows a very skilled archer. He could give you some information that I wouldn't be able to. Right, off you go now, lovelies!"
Rae blew a kiss towards them as Ashley happily smiled and firmly nodded before walking back towards the main hall.
...
It was a cold and peaceful night for the rest of it. Our duo went straight to bed after the ceremony, clearly tired from the events of that day. The next morning was a sharp one, clearly indicating an interesting day was about to unfold.
Luka got up and dressed rather quickly. He washed his face, grabbed his gym bag and hurried towards the gym.
He calmly looked at the clock in the main hall as he passed by it.
7:20 AM.
He quickly smiled as he happily hustled towards his morning workout.
After a few finished sets on the punching bag, he grabbed a spare hoodie and rushed outside to begin his morning run. As he stretched before he started parkouring out of the sanctuary he noticed Rae coming into the sanctuary from outside. They exchanged hello's and Rae told him to stop by the smithery sometime today, possibly with Ashley. Luka happily nodded and climbed out of the sanctuary.
He felt the cold winter breeze outside as he inhaled and exhaled before bolting off the street to his usual running route.
...
9:06 AM.
Luka finished his circle around his usual route as he began returning to the sanctuary. As he climbed into it carefully, making sure nobody saw him, he noticed Ashley talking to Hugh in the main hall. She was holding a cup of coffee and was still clearly waking up. On the other hand, Hugh seemed ready to go as he moved around quite a bit. It seemed like he couldn't stand still at all. Luka made a perfect landing as Hugh and Ashley both turned towards him.
"Shit landing, Luka!" Hugh shouted from a distance.
"Do a better one, asshat!" Luka shouted back.
"Alright, you're all here!" A familiar voice could be heard from above as Kane walked out of his headquarters.
Everyone directed their attention towards the ceiling.
A shadowy figure that slowly revealed itself could be seen up above. Slowly but surely, the figure revealed key parts of its body. The legs, the arms, the torso and finally the head leapt out of the shadows and parkoured to the ground level and landed next to Luka perfectly.
"Yo!"
"Ryo, you goddamn legend!" Luka turned around slowly as he sharply stepped in and threw a jab at Ryo's face.
Ryo blocked it easily.
"Luka, you boxing addict!"
The two men quickly exchanged a hug as Ryo went on to greet Hugh and Kane until he noticed Ashley.
"Nice to see you again, Ryo, hope you've been well." Kane greeted him very formally.
"What's up? You doing fine?" Hugh's approach was more casual.
"Things have been slow, but good. We're in just as much of a slump as you guys." Ryo greeted both of the men just like he greeted Luka. "Who's the beautiful lady? A recruit?"
Ashley began sipping her coffee until she stopped halfway through her sip and widened her eyes.
"I don't think she was expecting your compliment, brother." Luka walked next to Ryo and patted him on the shoulder. Ryo smiled slyly as Kane began explaining who Ashley was.
...
"An English assassin, eh? You don't see those often around these parts. A pleasure to meet you." Ryo did a small bow as Ashley did the same as she lowered her head.
"Ryo is Hungarian, we go way back." Luka pointed at Ryo as he smiled happily.
"Yup. Love this man." Ryo pointed back at Luka. "Although I am here for a bigger reason. We did it, lady and gentlemen!"
Everyone put on a confused expression as their eyes widened.
"We have a few big advancements in preparation!" Ryo lifted his hands with excitement.
"Get to the point, Ryo, we're all in anticipation." Hugh tapped his finger against his huge bicep while he stood there, cross-armed.
"We have a few contracts lined up!"
A shock of energy suddenly flowed through all of the assassins' faces as they all put on happy expressions. A brief silence consumed the room as Hugh spoke up once more.
"This is huge news! You best get into the detail of each one, Ryo."
"All will be revealed at tonight's meeting, which is why I'm staying for a while. I have a few demanding jobs here."
...
The cold wind of that afternoon blew around the entire town, eventually arriving at a nearby police station.
"I hate going out for a smoke in this weather."
"Have you considered quitting?"
"What, this job? Obviously."
Two male officers shared a laugh as they sipped their cups of coffee. A very formal looking officer began to enter the police station as she passed by the two policemen.
"You two better make it inside, we have some progress on that incident report a few nights ago."
The two officers quickly finished their small break as they returned inside and made their way towards a conference room. A bigger male police officer who looked to be in charge began presenting the case.
"Alright, as everyone here is aware, we received an anonymous report for gunshots fired a few nights ago while most of the people in town were sleeping. We have received a follow-up statement regarding the issue earlier today."
The bigger officer got up and cleared his throat as he began reading the statement.
"Incident File #045 - 28.01.2032. - several gunshots were heard from a rooftop close to an apartment complex. Statement filed anonymously. Two bodies were found in a garbage dump in town on the 30th of the same month. The bodies were analyzed and it was quickly determined that the two cases are closely related.
Here's the statement: "All I heard was gunshots that suddenly woke me up from my nice and peaceful night, I bet this has something to do with that stupid rumour of a criminal group making shit happen around here. What was it...The Creed! That was it!"
The Statement contains more words, but this is the important part of it."
The female officer that walked into the building shortly before this raised her hand as the officer in charge pointed at her.
"Wouldn't we have heard some reports of this group previously? I've personally never heard of them before."
"That's the thing, we haven't had any reports, as far as I'm aware." The chief officer took a moment to think. "Let's analyze the evidence and dig up what we can find on the two victims. There's got to be some kind of connection to the killer, plus, if there have been rumours of a criminal gang or group, we need to confirm whether or not they're true, to help people live a more peaceful life...but, nobody here should worry about that right now. The officers in charge of the night shift have begun arriving. Everyone, I appreciate your hard work and have a good night. I'll look into this in the morning and share an update with you all."
The chief officer closed the meeting positively and began looking through the case files. There had to have been some kind of connection here, he thought.
A tall and dark figure, which was listening in to the report from the outside, quickly retreated into the shadows with a satisfied look on its face.
The gears of progression started turning for Osijek. Something was about to change.
...
The punching bag bounced around heavily as our boxer enthusiast began doing combinations on it.
"You need to throw more compact punches. Huge swings like that won't get you anywhere. Small and compact." Ryo assisted Luka with his training.
"Right. I'm just pumped up due to the contracts, this is huge news!" Luka threw another hook at the punching bag.
"At least you're putting spirit into it, that's good."
Ryo quickly turned his attention towards Ashley, who was doing a bunch of situps under a timer. She stopped after a while and swiftly took a sip of her water bottle. She glanced at Ryo who nodded proudly at her before quickly turning back to Luka.
"Let's hit some mitts, Luka. Get your ass in the ring."
"On it, bossman!" Luka quickly stopped the bag with his empty hand as he climbed up to the ring.
...
After some intense workout sessions, everyone gathered around for that week's meeting.
"Alright everyone, gather around."
Everyone lifted their faces towards Ryo as he began to explain the situation.
"Let's get to the point. We have not one, not two, but THREE contracts lined up. One scheduled for Kane, one scheduled for Hugh and one scheduled for our two newcomers to the Creed, Ashley and Luka. Prepare yourselves, lads. These contracts will blow your minds."
...
*I feel like leaving it here, I wanna fully focus on the contracts in the third chapter. A bit of a lacklustre chapter for sure, but I wanted to get a shorter one out so I can focus fully on making the next one longer and better. Stay safe and enjoy y'all!*