Chapter 2

To a passer-by, the Du Couteau household appeared to be completely deserted. There was foliage growing from the brickwork and most of the windows were shattered. Said passer-by would then begin to wonder if the house contained any valuables. After all, it had been the home of one of the wealthiest Generals in Noxus, and now that he had disappeared, maybe something valuable had been left behind when his daughters had joined the League of Legends. He would check no-one was looking, then quickly hop the fence and get closer to the house. What happened next differed. Either the intruder fell backwards, a throwing knife lodged into his body, or he was torn apart by an expertly placed blade through his abdomen. Then, either Talon Du Couteau or Katarina Du Couteau would take the body and throw it onto the streets, it not deserving any other treatment.

Round the far end of the building, there was an open field, where Talon and Katrina would go to train in the only way they knew how. Fight each other in single combat. Katarina span round Talon, a knife seemingly ejecting itself from her as it narrowly missed Talons throat as he sidestepped and drove himself forward, his blade aimed at her stomach. Katarina parried with another knife, and stabbed at Talon with her other hand. Talon grabbed her arm with his free hand, and brought his blade towards Katarina's head. She quickly flipped backwards, her boot kicking Talon's hand off her arm, and threw three knives from distance. Talon ducked under the first one, knocked the second away and caught the third in his spare hand. Katarina didn't relent and suddenly appeared behind Talon, using the art of shunpo that her father had taught her. Talon spun round, his blade and Katarina's knife ready and blocked both of Katarina's swipes. They stood there, blades locked, and pressed each other's weight against themselves, trying to be the one who broke the lock. Talon felt Katarina buckle as he pressed onto her, so he broke the lock by rolling round her to deliver a blow to her side that Katarina had to roll backwards to dodge, leaving her wide open. As Katarina finished her roll, she look up to see Talons body hurling towards her, his blade outstretched. Katarina swung her knife upwards to parry, but it was knocked out of her hands by Talon throwing her previous knife at it, and she found herself on the floor, with Talons blade at her throat.

"Give up yet?" Talon asked, glaring into her eyes as he leaned over her, preparing to finish her.

"I guess so." Katarina sighed and Talon removed his blade from her throat. Katarina quickly shunpoed behind talon, her final knife ready to strike, however talon span round, sticking his foot out as it caught Katarina in her stomach. She fell back again, and Talon approached her once more.

"You finished yet?" Talon asked, a rare smile on his lips. Katarina was about to retort, when she stopped. She had heard a noise by the gates at the front of the house. Talon lifted his head, indicating that he had heard it too.

"Another Slum-dog, here to loot the house." Katarina said, harshness gripping into her voice.

"Well," Talon said, throwing her a knife, "You lost, it's your turn." Katarina sighed, and lifted herself to her feet, not bothering to ask Talon for help. She moved to the shadows that the house offered, and creped to the front. Her hand rested on her knife as she peered to see who was trespassing. She saw an old man wondering towards the house. Disappointed at the lack of opposition, Katarina stalked her prey, waiting until he seemed comfortable that he was safe, then she struck. The knife went hurtling through the air, directly towards the man's skull. However, just before it hit him, there was a flash of steel as the blade bounce of a scimitar that the man had drawn to protect himself. Launching herself at the man, Katarina caught her knife in mid air and shunpoed behind the old man, preparing to finish him. With lightning reflexes, the man span round, his blade smashing her knife from her grip and was aimed at her throat. Katarina was jaw-struck. How had he moved so fast? And yet there was something similar about the way he wielded the blade... and the blade itself.

"You have learned much Katarina, but not enough. Not yet."

"Farther?" Katarina asked, feeling joy for the first time in months.

Swain gave out a sigh as he looked through the reports that Darius had given him. The hideout in the slums had been fully investigated that morning by Darius and 50 of his men and nothing of interest had been found. It was deserted, bar a few guards who had quickly surrendered after Darius had decapitated the first one with one swing of his axe. There was no trace of the documents or the Woman who had purchased them.

Swain rubbed his head, there was a meeting with the Noxian high command council that afternoon to discuss matters, and there was no way that the thievery of Noxus's plans of defence would be overlooked. He really didn't want this to go public. Even though the whole council had supported him becoming Grand General after he had defeated Keiran Darkwill in single combat, he knew that they had only supported him to avoid Darius from removing their heads from their bodies. If the high command moved against him due to this, Swain didn't know if he could hold on to power.

Suddenly, the door slammed open, making Swain jump, as Darius entered his office. Swain sighed inwards, he was becoming a bundle of nerves as of late. "Sir, my investigation of how Meraktia managed to get his hands on the defence plans is complete."

"And?" Swain asked.

"From what I can tell, he has had inside help." Swain tilted his head, this was something new.

"How can you tell?"

"While I don't like to underestimate our enemies, Meraktia appears to be too incompetent to have been able to do this. He had no authorised access to our offices and I doubt he would have even known where to find it. So, I took the liberty of..."

"Interrogating the suspects until you got a confession." Swain concluded, knowing what Darius would do.

"Indeed sir, out of the 34 people I suspected, three have confessed to helping Meraktia get the information. Two guards allowed him to enter the offices and one of our clerks gave him the documents."

"Do we know why they helped him?"

"Apparently all three of them were paid 2 days before the event, with instructions to help Meraktia."

"I see, good work Darius." Swain said, when he suddenly had an idea. "Is your brother free today?"

"Yes sir, I assume you would like these traitors executed?"

"Of course. Make it a public event and bring out any other prisoners awaiting execution."

"Certainly sir." Darius replied, exiting the office to speak with the guard captain.

'Time for some good old Noxian entertainment' Swain thought, heading out of the offices as well.

Marcus Du Couteau and Talon travelled towards the Noxian high command, talking in whispers so no-one could hear what they were discussing. After Katarina had finished interrogating her father as where he had been, Marcus had asked Talon to accompany him to Noxus high command to speak to the grand general while Katarina communicated with a summoner to send Cassiopia, her sister, to Noxus. As they walked, Talon spoke up, "Sir, may I ask where you have been?"

"You can ask Talon, but I fear my answer won't be satisfactory.

"Any answer will be satisfying, sir."

"I owe you that much, Talon." Markus said, obviously troubled. "I have been, "infiltrating", as they would say, a certain organization."

"Why didn't you tell me sir?" Talon asked. For some reason, pain was seething through his body. He found it hard to identify why, until he realised. He was ... troubled. It seemed that the general hadn't told him where he was going for a reason. Maybe he didn't trust him?

"You will probably hate me for saying this Talon." Marcus said, with a sigh. "I wanted to keep you and my daughters safe."

"With all respect sir, we didn't need to be kept safe."

"I know that Talon. But, this organization, it's different, they are extremely dangerous. I was not prepared to put you, or them, in danger.

"Who are they?"

"I'll tell you when we get to the Grand General."

When they arrived, Talon was informed by a new clerk that Swain was at the arena, watching some executions. After arriving , Talon and Markus made there way to the upper stands, where the Grand General would sit. As they entered, Talon hered a cheer from the crowed. Looking down, Talon saw a moustached man with 2 axes running across the arena. There were 5 people running for their life, the door to the street was open and they had a shot at freedom. The man was Draven, brother of Darius and famous for his executions. As they made their way to where Swain was waiting, Talon heard a scream as Draven took his first victim, an axe imbedded in his back. As if this gave him strength, he surged forwards, grabbing the axe and throwing both of them. Two other screams followed the first as the executions continued. Darius suddenly appeared, blocking Talon's path to Swain. "What do you want Talon?" He asked, looking irritated.

"I need to talk to Swain, Darius." Marcus said, from behind Talon. Darius looked to him, and seemed to freeze in place.

"General Du Couteau?" He asked.

"The same."

"Pass, quickly." Darius said, as he let them through. Markus took the lead and led himself towards Swain. Swain turned to see who had entered, and his eyes widened as he saw Marcus.

"Du Couteau, is that you?"

"Yes, Grand General."

"Where the hell have you been?"

"I was asked two years ago to join a certain organisation. I joined, and now I am back. I am here to report on them and there behaviour."

"What organisation?"

"The black rose."