Chapter Three: The Shadow that lingers
Taking a subtle, deep breath, Talon begins to pick up Rengar's body. Not moving an inch afterwards he hears clapping from behind him. Turning around to see who's clapping behind him, he comes face to face with Zed.
"Zed, what are you doing here?" Talon snapped at him.
"I was passing by, simply put. I noticed you were fighting the cat. Thought I'd watch. Was impressive, if I do say so myself." Zed responded.
Taking a few steps forward, Zed causes Talon to retreat a few steps back.
"What's wrong? Do I scare you?" Zed said slyly.
"Yes and no. I'm more cautious as to what your plans are, than scared of you." Talon replied.
"You killed my prey, Talon. That's not acceptable."
"Prey, Rengar was your next victim?"
"There was a hit out for him. The man who hired me was paying quite a handful of gold, couldn't refuse the offer."
"Who was this man?" Talon asked sharply.
"Unsure, seemed as if he didn't want anyone to know his identity. Wore a long, black hood. Gave me the coins up front, and I needed the exercise." Zed let off a chuckle.
"Well, you can't have him."
"I wasn't going to negotiate, Talon."
In that instant, Talon threw out some of his blades, jumping back, into Zed.
"You didn't think that would work, did you?" Zed asks arrogantly.
"No." Talon sends out an elbow at Zed. Catching his elbow, Zed puts his right foot forward, locking Talon's left leg. Immobilized, Talon gets his wrist blade out, ready to strike. Zed activates his left wrist blades as well. Talon goes for a stab at Zed's neck, just to be stopped by Zed's own blades. Digging both of their heels into the dirt, they begin a tug-o-war of pure strength. Being completely overpowering Talon, Zed pushes him back. Losing his balance, Talon falls into a back roll. Coming up from his roll, he throws out a blade, followed by a blade right behind it. Zed knocking back one, was caught by the illusion it brought, and managed to catch the second. Throwing the blade right back at Talon, he jumps forward. Talon retreating, he lands one foot, spinning on his heel, he spins around and lands his outward foot right into the gut of Zed. Grabbing his leg, Zed pulls him forward, causing him to lose his balance. Falling to the ground, Talon throws his blade out at Zed, just to be blocked by him. Zed then stomps his foot down at Talon's face, Talon quickly grabs Zeds face and begins to push up on him. Kicking his leg free, Talon rolls out from underneath Zed. Getting to his feet quickly he turns and faces Zed. Charging forward Talon leaps in the air, in the instant that he does Zed disappears from his sight. Appearing behind him, and elbowing him in the back, teleporting back to his original position because of his shadow's. Zed then drills Talon in the face with his fist, bringing him down into the dirt road. Rolling to his feet, Talon gets ready to activate his invisibility. Zed takes a few steps forward, just to catch another redundant blade. Losing sight of Talon as he quickly disappears, Zed looks around, spotting the multiple blades hidden through the dirt.
Laughing Zed jumps backward, and takes one of his shurikens, throwing it in the air. Talon appears behind him and sends his blade into Zed's back. Pushing upward, Talon stumbles forward, realizing he had stabbed a clone. Zed now in the air catches his shuriken and throws it down at Talon. Quickly rolling to his right to dodge the shuriken, Talon comes up and throws a wave out in front of him hoping to catch Zed in the midst of jumping to another clone that may be in front of him. Instead, Zed appears behind Talon with his punching daggers ready. Talon realizing this jumps up, over the wave of blades that's coming back in, landing next to Zed's shuriken. Picking it up Talon retreats a few steps back, waiting for Zed to make a move. Walking out of the shadowy alley way, holding the blades within his fingers, he lets off another laugh. Throwing the blades within his right hand at Talon, he charges forward. Talon dodging the blades, jumps to his left, securing himself he gets ready to throw the shuriken. Zed stops his charge and begins to charge to the left, at Talon. Talon throwing the shuriken at Zed, he gets low, face masks almost hitting the dirt, and pushes all of his might into a charge. Coming up close to Talon he gets both of his blades ready to impale the stomach of his enemy.
Talon gets his wrist blade out and goes to stabs Zed as well. Zed stops the progression of his left hand and stops Talon's attempt, grabbing his arm and pushing down on it. Zed thrusts forward, clipping Talon's side as he barely moves his body to avoid the stab. Talon jumps up, putting both of his feet onto Zed's chest and kicking off of him. Freeing himself from his grasp and back flipping to a safe distance. Or so he thought. Zed throws his other shuriken at Talon, who ducked to avoid it. As he does so he starts to run forward. Stopping, Talon looks about him to see three new clones that surrounds him, readying himself for the attack that is about to commence. The clones come in on Talon, he gets ready to fend them off, though he's fast, they happened to be faster. Grabbing Talon by his arms and legs and the third, holding a shuriken at his back. Zed walks forward, clapping his hands.
"You did good. Not good enough, obviously." Zed says arrogantly.
"At least I got the prey before you did." Talon spat.
"Do you really think that matters?" Zed questions. "I take both of you back, I get more money. I'm an assassin dear Talon. I'm sure someone is willing to pay gold for your head."
In that instant, Talon kicks his feet free, kicking behind him, trying to loosen the grip the clones have on his hands. Managing to break free, Talon rolls to the right, dodging the shuriken the third clone had thrown at him. Charges forward at Zed, thrusting hard. Stabbing who he thought was Zed, ended up being another clone.
So stupid! How could I be so careless at this moment. Talon thought, damning himself. Within seconds, he saw a shuriken whirl past his head, as he moved his body instinctively to dodge it. Appearing in front of him was Zed, catching, throwing the the shuriken back at him. Talon, not being able to react fast enough, gets his arm hooked by the shuriken in an attempt to move out of the way. Falling to his knees, Talon looks up at the monster, a final glance before Zed shoves his blade into Talon's forehead.