Chapter 3: Catch a Killer

It had been a few weeks since the assassination of Ogre the Demon, and in that time, the Templars had been busy. From what Elise had told him, they had pulled many strings to place one of their own in Ogre's position of CDF captain. This new man, Matthew Davenport, already had promised the public reform in the police force, as well as delivered classified material to the Grandmaster regarding the capital's defenses.

And it's all thanks to me, he smiled as he walked down the halls of the Templar Compound.

The Compound itself was a relic of a bygone era, when savage tribes ruled the land. It was actually the first structure the Templars had used established order and was their primary base of operations. The Assassins had a similar structure located deep in the eastern mountains; a massive fortress called Masayf Castle. It was there that the Assassin Mentor resided, just as the Grandmaster lived and worked inside the Compound. The place was built half into a cliff face, allowing easy access through secret tunnels and passageways that ran for miles in every direction.

"Hey, Tatsumi!" he turned around and saw Spear running up to him.

"Lady Spear," he bowed respectfully, only to get flicked on the forehead. "Ow!"

"I told you, you don't have to do that to me," she chided, grabbing his ear playfully.

"But you're my superior," he said as she dragged him along the hallway. "And you're the Grandmaster's daughter! Master Haythem would have a fit if he knew I didn't show you proper respect!"

"Haythem can kiss a Kaiser Frog," she snorted. "Come on, you're going with me today!"

"Where are we going?" he asked as she pulled him outside towards a carriage.

"The Capital," she said. "Father has an important mission for us."

He perked right away. An important mission from the Grandmaster?

"Let's go," he grinned, hopping into the carriage.

LATER THAT DAY…

"Uh, Spear?" he asked nervously. "Is this really what the Grandmaster wanted us to do?"

The two of them were sitting in the middle of the Capital's busiest market in broad daylight with their hoods off…eating lunch. All around them, people could see their faces, remember them, or point them out if they were asked to. It honestly made him feel naked.

"Oh would you relax?" Spear laughed, swatting his arm playfully. "We're not doing anything wrong."

"Yeah, but we're not doing anything for the Order," he whispered. "All we're doing is just…"

"Relaxing," Spear finished, taking a bite of her food. "Working too hard isn't good for you, Tatsumi. Even Shay knows when to take a break…then again, he usually drinks on his breaks and that leads to more trouble."

He snorted, remembering the time Shay had opened a bottle of whisky to celebrate a successful kill and ended up grabbing Elise's ass in a drunken attempt at flirtation. Elise had asked him to fetch the doctor and when they had returned Shay was beaten near senseless with Elise wiping her hands clean.

"Yeah," he smiled, thinking of his teacher's drunken escapades. "Hey, what's Shay's story anyway? He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would join the Order."

"That's because he wasn't," she said. "Shay is one of the last surviving members of the Ban Tribe…well, he's more like half-Ban. His father was a merchant who traded with the tribes, so when they were massacred, he took Shay away. From what he tells me, he never saw his mother again. His father died when he was maybe eight, and to earn money he started participating in cage fights."

He shuddered. Cage fights were something Woodes had taught him about. They were a savage blood-sport reserved for noblemen. Peasants and slaves were put in the ring and told that whoever killed their opponent would receive gold and/or freedom. Orphans were often used as "slaughter fodder;" being set up to fight experienced warriors just so the spectators could see blood spilled easily.

"Shay killed thirty people during his first round in the fights," she said. "Most of them were kids his age, but maybe seven of them were soldiers. They made him keep fighting until he learned how to kill properly. It's lucky that Master Torres found him when he did or he would have probably died in the rings."

"Wow," he whispered. He knew Shay was a powerful fighter, but thirty people when he was only eight…that was a lot to take in. "I guess I'm lucky to have been trained by him."

Spear nodded, slurping down the last of her noodles before sitting back in her chair with a sigh. "But anyway, tell me about you," she said with a cheery smile. "What was your childhood like?"

"Uh, well I grew up in Winters Pass," he began. "It's a small village on the Northern Boarder…sometimes the tribes come and trade with us. It's always so cold up there that no one ever farms, so we hunt and fish for our food. What little grain we have comes from the south and it's always so expensive. But it's a nice place to grow up in…it made me strong enough to survive in the swamps."

Spear nodded with a cute smile. "And your parents?" she asked. "What did they think about you trying to join the army?"

"Well, nothing," he said with a sad smile. "I never knew my parents. The Chief found me in the snow next to a caravan that had been attacked. If I had parents they were killed that day."

"Oh…sorry," Spear said, averting her eyes from shame. "I didn't know."

"Its fine!" he said with a reassuring smile. "The Chief raised me himself so he could be considered my father…he was against me, Sayo, and Ieyasu going out of the village, but we were the last available candidates, so eventually he buckled and sent us off with a blessing."

"He sounds like a good man," she said.

"He is," he nodded. "And the first thing I do when we succeed is give my village all the money they need to survive. Winter's Pass will become a great place to live!"

Spear giggled. "Boy you've got it all figured out, huh?" she said.

"Well, what are you going to do?" he shot back.

"Well first, I'm going to have a good laugh at the Prime Minister begging my father for mercy," she said cheekily. "Then I suppose I'll clean house inside the Koken Temple."

Hey eyes suddenly turned dark. "And then I'll kill them," she growled.

"Spear?" he asked hesitantly as she started to radiate an aura of bloodlust. "You're doing it again."

"Huh?" the aura vanished like smoke in the wind. "Whoops, my bad!"

The rest of the day was spent leisurely. Spear went shopping for a bit, he went to watch some street performers, they both went to the CDF headquarters to check on the new Captain Davenport, and finally they finished by walking the dimly lit streets together.

"That was fun," she smiled, admiring the new coat she had bought.

"Yeah it was," he admitted.

She suddenly ran in front of him and faced him. "Now we start our work," she said in a serious tone. "Follow me."

He nodded and ran after her, pulling up his collar and hood as he went. Spear had pulled the scarf she wore up around her nose like a mask, obscuring her face almost entirely.

"One of our targets has surfaced in the capital," she told him. "You remember Zank the Beheader?"

He nodded, remembering the image on the Grandmaster's wall.

"Well he's here now," she said. "And he's been preying on civilians. Father has asked us to stop him…and retrieve his Teigu."

His eyes widened. "Zank has a Teigu?" he said.

She nodded. "Our spies confirmed it last night," she said. "Its name is Omnipotent Five Sights: Spectator."

"What can it do?"

"From Master Haythem's findings, it's a support-type," she said. "It gives the user heightened perception abilities, allowing them to foresee attacks and detect enemies."

"So we have to be stealthy," he mused.

Spear nodded. "The CDF has been dispatched to find him," she said. "So all we have to do is wait for them to chase him into a corner."

He smirked and followed her as she clambered onto a nearby roof. "We'll wait here until he comes," she said. "Until then, keep an eye out for Night Raid."

"They're still active?" he asked. "I thought we blamed them for Ogre's death?"

"We did," she nodded. "But our spies have confirmed seeing one of them, Lubbock, casing a house near the south side of the city, owned by a man named Gamal."

"Shit," he swore. "At least it's not Akame we have to deal with…"

"Don't count on it," she said, flicking his forehead. "Akame is the most dangerous Assassin the empire ever produced…the only one who might be able to beat her is the Assassin's Mentor…or a group of Master Assassins."

"It takes an assassin to kill an assassin," he joked.

"Which is why we're going after Zank," she smirked, pulling out a collapsible lance from her coat and assembling it. "Now shush. We don't want to give away our position."

He nodded and settled back into a sitting position against the wall. A few hours passed as twilight faded into darkness, the only sound being the noisy running and shouting of the CDF as they searched for Zank. Finally, their work paid off. In the distance he saw a lone figure standing on the top of a nearby clock tower overlooking the city.

"Spear," he said, tapping her shoulder and pointing. "There he is."

She smirked and stood up. "Let's go," she said.

He nodded and ran after her, jumping along the rooftops and across wires and ropes as they approached Zank. The serial killer didn't seem to notice them otherwise…it was almost as if he was focusing on something else.

Sucks to be him, he thought, jumping high and starting the climb to the top of the clock tower.

He paused at the lip of the roof, waiting for Spear to join him. As soon as she did, she nodded and the two of them jumped up in perfect synchronization. The sound of their footsteps on the pavement got Zank's attention.

"I was wondering when you two would show up," he grinned, looking at their covered and obscured faces. "Night Raid must think I'm a big deal to send four assassins for me."

"We're not Night Raid," Spear said calmly, holding her lance at the ready. "But we will be taking you down."

He slowly began to circle around behind Zank, unsheathing his swords as he went. At the same time, Spear began to move to Zank's left, almost like a pair of hunting tigers. They'd attack from both sides at the same time, pinning him between their blades. Zank however, only grinned.

"Ooh, so you're not Night Raid?" he asked, playfully unsheathing a large pair of bastardized hidden blades that were common amongst professional killers. "Then you're either CDF, Imperial Army, or relatives of someone I killed come for some revenge."

"I'm not going to tell you," Tatsumi said, spinning his swords to draw Zank's attention away from Spear, who slipped in close behind the killer. "But even if I did it wouldn't matter. You're a dead man."

"Really?" Zank grinned like a smug cat as Spear lunged from behind.

Quick as a whip, Zank blocked her strike with one of his swords while his other one stopped Tatsumi's own attack from piercing his heart. His eyes opened in shock at the fact the man had been able to predict their movements to cleanly. Then his eyes drifted to the large green metal eye Zank had strapped to his forehead.

"Spectator," he growled, pushing off and darting to Spear's side.

"Yup," Zank cackled manically. "My darling Teigu that helps me kill…happy-happy~"

"Well then," he snarled. "We'll just have to take it from you."

With a burst of speed, he launched himself at Zank, baiting the man's attention towards his sword hand while his free one went for his knife. Zank only grinned and blocked both strikes. He smirked and then drove his knee into the man's chest. Zank only bent backwards to avoid the strike…but in the end put himself in the path of Spear's lance. At the last second he managed to jerk his head away, leaving a thin gash on his neck where the blade had grazed him. A trickle of blood ran down his cheek, a few drops splashing onto the stone roof.

"Such teamwork!" he laughed. "You guys must be experienced!"

Neither of them said anything, not wanting to give him a single weak point.

"So what do you do about the voices?" he asked. "The screams of those you've killed, begging for mercy and cursing up at you from hell…how do you deal with them?"

He looked over at Spear and started at her for a good ten seconds before the both of them busted out laughing. Zank, who had been smiling the whole time, suddenly frowned.

"Voices?" Spear smirked under her scarf. "I don't hear any voices. All who I've killed deserved it."

"Same here," Tatsumi smirked as Zank's frown turned into a deep snarl. "Could it be that Zank the Beheader feels remorse for the innocent?"

"YOU FUCKING SHITS!" he yelled, running at them, blades bared for stabbing.

Right away they moved, ducking low under him and slashing with their hidden blades at his ankles. By timing their cuts to the exact second after Zank had moved past them, they managed to cut both his ankle tendons at the base. Zank let out a surprised gasp as Spear suddenly twisted around and drove the butt of her lance into the man's pelvis, shattering it and the lower portion of his spine.

"Now, Tatsumi!" she yelled.

He nodded and turned around, plunging his knife into Zank's chest cavity through his back right where his heart should be. A few twists of the blade ensured that the wound would definitely be fatal before he stepped back and watched the man die. Zank gasped and wheezed hard, crimson blood spilling from his lips as his useless legs tried desperately to move, to carry him away from these killers. But finally, he stopped…but he wasn't dead yet. He rolled over onto his back and stared up at them as Tatsumi walked over to him and knelt.

"Retribution for the fallen," he recited the Templar death prayer. "You pay for your crimes in this life, Zank. May the Father of Understanding guide you to a purer path in the next."

Zank looked like he wanted to say something, but all that came out was a raspy gasp and a mouthful of blood. He coughed and wheezed for a few more seconds before his eyes grew dull and his arms went slack. Spear knelt down and pried the green eye-shaped Teigu off his head, pocketing it quickly as he closed the serial killer's eyes.

"We should get out of here," he said. "Zank said four assassins were after him. That means Night Raid will be here soon."

"Right," she nodded, folding her spear away. "Let's move."

They climbed down from the clock tower and vanished into the back alleyway, heading to the CDF headquarters to alert Davenport to Zank's body. After waiting a few days for the heat to die down from all the recent murders Zank had committed, they quickly headed back to the Compound.

"Mission success," he smiled as they walked into Chouri's study. "Zank the Beheader is dead."

"And the Teigu?" he asked.

Spear grinned and placed the eye on the desk. "Safe and sound, Father," she said.

Chouri grinned at the both of them. "Excellent work," he praised, lifting the green eye to the light as he walked around to a heavy iron table placed at the edge of the room. "Now…to dispose of this wretched item."

He placed the eye on the center of the table and withdrew a heavy iron hammer from within. He brought the hammer down hard on Spectator three times, each blow denting and deforming the smooth green metal. Sparks flew from the Teigu as it was slowly degraded into a useless hunk of scrap metal. Finally Chouri set the hammer down and looked at the two of them.

"Now there are only forty-seven," he smiled. "You two have done a great service for the Order."

"It was our pleasure, Grandmaster," Tatsumi grinned. "What do we do now?"

"Now, we must attend to some new business," Chouri sighed, sitting at his desk. "I admit I have some rather disturbing news from our spies in the north. I told the others yesterday, but it is only right that you know as well."

"What is it, father?" Spear asked, concern washing over her face.

"The Prince of the North, Numa Seika," Chouri said. "He has decided to rebel against the Empire and take back the land the tribes once held."

"Isn't that good?" he asked. "If the Empire has to put down a rebellion, they have to split their forces."

"Normally, yes," Chouri said, folding his hands under his chin. "But our troubles lie not with the rebellion itself…but with who the Empire has sent to the north."

Spear's eyes widened. "You mean Esdeath," she said.

Chouri nodded. "Her army left its position in the west and have been spotted heading towards Numa Seika's base in the ice cliffs," he said. "Hopefully he can slow her down for a while, but she will eventually defeat him. And when she does, I fear Honest will put her skills to use defending the capital against assassins."

Both he and Spear noticeably swallowed. Esdeath defending the capital herself could set the Templars back YEARS.

"We've sent Seika some anonymous information regarding Esdeath's troops," Chouri continued. "It will allow him to defend his fortress for at least a week before Esdeath cracks him. In this time we must fortify ourselves as well as cause as much chaos in the government as we can."

He sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. "Master Rodgers has been instructed to take possession of all weapons entering the capital through the Grand Canal," he said. "And Master Torres has agreed to start riots in the east."

"What about the west?" he asked. "Shouldn't Master Haythem be in charge there?"

"Haythem has still not returned from his expedition," he sighed. "He has sent word claiming he has found some ruins that may contain a map. Until he returns I have asked John Pitcairn to take his place in the west."

He nodded. He had met John Pitcairn once before, a few days after he had joined the order. The man was a full colonel in the Imperial Army, noted for his impressive victories against a bandit army in the southwest.

"Master Pitcairn will see that Imperial weapons depots in the west are sabotaged," Chouri continued. "This will encourage the Western Tribes to begin an uprising which may attract attention from Honest."

"Allowing us to slip more spies into the capital," he thought out loud.

Chouri smiled and stood up. "Exactly," he said. "Now I have some more important assignments for the both of you. Tatsumi, I need you to join Master Rodgers. There is an officer he needs killed before he can take control of the port at the canal's mouth."

"Right away, Grandmaster," he said, bowing.

"Go now," Chouri smiled, bowing slightly. "And may the Father of Understanding guide you."

He returned the salute and headed to the armory, resupplying before heading out to the stables for a horse.

"No rest for the weary," he muttered as he rode out towards the Grand Canal. "But this must be done."