Chapter 2: The Assassin

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Disclaimer: I don't own Ed, Edd n Eddy, just the OCs in this fic.

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Sarah woke up with a throbbing heading piercing through her skull and hunger pains inside her stomach. When she opened her eyes, she found herself inside a boiler room of sorts, wondering how she got there. Worse, she felt as if she had been awake for hours, dreaming all sorts of strange, vivid dreams, including one where she was rooming with Ed, being nice to him.

The thought made her sick.

Still, she got up, having to figure out where the heck she was. She didn't even remember how she got there until she really thought about it.

Going out the back door, the man in the white hood attacking her, injecting her with something, the world falling away around her…

It seemed like some weird dream based on one of those Assassin's Vengeance games she saw at the store.

The redhead made her way to the door just up the stairs. She figured that she was just in a part of the school that she had never been to before. It was strange for her to be there all alone, not having been dropped off by her parents. She turned the doorknob and opened it, walking outside.

She was still in the elementary school section, causing her to heave a sigh of relief. Except that something strange was going on: everyone was staring at her. After a few seconds, some of the kids even started to laugh, pointing at her and making fun of her. She instantly ran to the bathroom, wondering what it was that was making them do so.

That was where she saw what the assassin had done. She was dressed up as a clown, but that was only a small part of it. She shrunk back at the word on her forehead: Abuser.

Then she noticed the pieces of paper on the walls, listing her sins for everyone to know.

Her screams could be heard throughout that school.

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A few hours earlier…

When Kevin arrived at the bus stop, Ed was crying his brains out. At first, he had no idea what was happening, but then he noticed that Jimmy was looking quite disturbed himself and Sarah… Dude, where's Sarah?

Kevin was confused. He had never seen that girl miss the bus other than on sick days and neither Ed nor Jimmy ever looked like this when that happened, so he drew a different conclusion.

Something had happened to Sarah.

"Hey, dudes, what's going on?" he asked, trying to be as cordial as possible with three people he didn't particularly like. Okay, one person he didn't like and two people he actually got along with when that one person wasn't around.

"Somebody took Sarah!" Ed exclaimed before bawling into Edd's shoulder.

"Oh man, you've got to be kidding!" Kevin replied in astonishment. He couldn't help but feel bad for the oaf, even though he was one of his lifelong enemies.

"I keep on telling him he should probably stay at home today due to these extenuating circumstances, but his parents insist he go to school today," Edd told Kevin, causing the redhead to raise an eyebrow. He wondered why, if his parents actually cared about him, did they actually make Ed go to school. They probably felt like Ed was a nuisance, but this was their own son and he was dealing with the same problems they were. Kevin was dumbfounded at them.

"Oh please, good riddance! I'm glad the little brat's gone!" Eddy cheered, receiving a dirty look from Kevin. Even though he didn't like Sarah that much, he didn't dare even consider making such a statement, especially in front of her brother. The redhead wondered how they could possibly be friends. Then again, it was Eddy.

"Eddy, that's not how you talk about your friend's sister!" Edd chastised. For once, Kevin agreed with the dork.

"Yeah? How do you know she was even kidnapped?" Eddy asked. "Maybe she ran away. For all we know, she could be halfway to Lemon Brook right now!" In some ways, the redhead could see that happening.

"Eddy, I asked one of the police officers investigating the crime scene and they say that there are enough patterns reminiscent with someone dragging a body through the snow and out of Ed's backyard," Edd explained, refuting his friend's idea. "There are also footprints leading to where the body was dragged from, two differing sets of footprints in fact, that show she was attacked from behind, though no one has any idea what the weapon was, especially since there was no blood in the snow."

"My baby sister is dead!" Ed continued crying.

"Dude, that is so weird. Why would anybody kidnap Sarah?" Kevin asked, still baffled.

"No one knows yet. There wasn't even a ransom," Edd informed him. The redhead thought that was beyond strange and thought about it even more.

"I still say we should celebrate," Eddy told the group, earning a glare from Kevin. Dorky was going too far.

"Dude, I know Sarah's a brat, but this is one of your friends' younger sisters," the redhead scolded. Nazz walked up just as Kevin finished reprimanding the shorter Ed.

"Dude, did something happen? There are, like, ten police cars in front of Ed's house," Nazz exaggerated.

"Ed's sister got kidnapped last night," Kevin informed her, still giving Eddy a dirty look.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Ed!" the girl told the big Ed, consoling him.

"Yeah, but he'll realize there's peace and quiet after a few days, I bet!" Eddy exclaimed, not having learned from earlier.

"That's it!" Kevin shouted, about ready to pummel Eddy, but he was being held back by Nazz.

"Dude, beating Eddy up isn't going to help, Kevin," Nazz chastised him. "And seriously, Eddy, your friend's sister just got kidnapped!"

"Okay, okay, I'll stop. Sheesh!" he said as Johnny and Rolf showed up along with the Kankers and the bus.

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"Wow, that is so weird," Shawn said in response to what Kevin had just told him. "Why on Earth would anybody go after Sarah? I mean, she's a little brat and she probably got her just desserts, but seriously, man?"

"Maybe it was some sort of vigilante or something that saw her abusing Ed one time too many," Gabe suggested.

"Dude, if that's the case then any of us could be a suspect," Kevin told him. "Well, except for Hans."

"Oh, man, I wanted to be a suspect!" Hans joked with a giant grin. "Can you imagine that? Being on a line-up at the police station. Dude, that would be crazy! Not to mention the orange jumpsuits?"

"Yeah? Believe me, you don't want that," Gabe told him, his eyes narrowed.

"Hey, I was just being sarcastic, man! It was a joke! I'm just kidding!"

"I hope so," Shawn told the blond. "I don't really have any criminals in my family, but someone confused by uncle Hank for some sort of killer and he had to go through all that even though he didn't do it. He was only exonerated by DNA testing."

"That's pretty messed up, man," Kevin told his friend.

"Now back in the old country, Rolf would just be hung if he was accused of such a crime," the tall foreign boy stated matter-of-factly.

The banter kept on going, but all Kevin could think of was what he had just thought: that any of them could be a suspect. He glanced at his friends.

It couldn't have been Rolf since he couldn't possibly see one of his closest friends kidnapping Sarah. The same could be said for Shawn. Gabe wouldn't do it because it went against his moral code and even though he didn't know Hans that well, the blond boy didn't even know Sarah. So that meant it couldn't have been any of them. Or Nazz, who's too nice. Edd wouldn't do it either and he knew Ed either loved his sister too much - or had a sort of Stockholm syndrome that made him think he did - to even try such a thing.

That left Eddy as the only suspect, except that if the short Ed really wanted her gone, he would already have tried by now.

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It was during Computer Literacy class that Ed was escorted out of the classroom by a student aide. Kevin wouldn't know what was up until after English, after they waited for Hans to show up for lunch. After a few minutes, the group decided to track down the new blond starting with the boy's English classroom.

What they found was shocking. The teacher was keeping the entire class inside the room for lunch and yelling at them. Mr. Duncan was a stocky man in his forties with brown hair and a full beard and every student in the school had heard horror stories about the man's temper, but Kevin had never actually seen it until now. He even yelled at the group of friends for even looking into the door.

"You're not allowed in here! Get lost!"

Kevin rolled his eyes as he walked away, wondering what the class had done this time. It was on the way back to the cafeteria when they came across Double D? "Hey, man, did they find out anything?"

"Why yes. Sarah has been found unharmed," the skinny Ed responded. "She woke up this morning inside the high school, though I didn't hear many details other than that."

"Dude, that doesn't make any sense," Kevin told him.

"So, do they have any idea who did it?" Shawn asked with a bit of a grin.

"No, unfortunately. All she remembered was a man in a white hood attacking from behind and knocking her out," Edd informed him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to join Eddy in the cafeteria to help him with his homework."

"Thanks for telling us what was what, man," Kevin told the Ed.

"You're welcome," Edd said nervously in reply before the group headed back to the cafeteria.

"Man in a white hood?" Kevin asked the group.

"Right…" Shawn muttered, not hiding his disbelief. "Watch, she faked her kidnapping to get more attention from her parents."

"Dude, I can so see her doing that even though I'm friends with her," Nazz remarked.

"So, who do you think the man in the white hood is?" Gabe asked. "Somehow I get the feeling Sarah was just making it up for attention."

"Ha ha," Kevin said sarcastically. "Dude, I'm not even sure if I believe her story either."

"Of course, we don't know much of her story," Shawn told him before biting into his rather gross mashed potatoes. "Just the part about some hood dude knocking her out and somehow dragging her to the high school."

"I can't believe she wouldn't put up a fight," Kevin objected.

"Hey, wasn't she attacked from behind or something?" Nazz asked.

"Yeah, true that, Nazz. Man, how did I forget about that?" the redhead replied, putting his palm on his forehead in embarrassment.

"It sounds like you're talking about an assassin," Gabe joked. Everyone looked at him, disbelieving. "You know, 'Assassin's Vengeance'? My dad plays that series. He likes it for all the history stuff."

"Rolf has heard of these assassins. They plague the old country," the tall, foreign boy told the group.

"Let me guess, your country also has a bunch of Templars running the show as well?" Gabe asked sarcastically. "What country are you from again?"

"'Assassin's Vengeance'? You're just pulling our legs, aren't you, Gabe?" Shawn told him.

"You know, dude, that is what it sounds like," Nazz told the group, scratching her chin. "Someone stabbing people in the back and then talking to them as they die… Except Sarah didn't die."

"No, man, she was just humiliated," Kevin determined. "Makes me think that it was because of what she did to Ed yesterday."

"Or what she does to everyone from time to time if you let her," Shawn decided. "That makes me glad I don't live on your street, man."

"So, if we don't tick off this assassin, we'll be okay," Gabe said with an uneasy grin. "Doesn't make what this guy does any less illegal."

"I wonder if the police will go after him or not," Nazz mused. "I mean, Sarah's story is incredibly implausible, so I wonder if the police will just laugh it off."

"Dude, some nutcase kidnapped a girl in the middle of the night and took her to another school after dressing her up as a clown," Kevin told her. "You can bet the police will be all over this one, man."

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"Man, I'm starving here!" Hans complained as everyone was exiting the school building.

"Don't worry about it," Gabe assured him. "We'll be home in a few minutes."

"Yeah, but a few minutes is so long! Why don't we go to a restaurant or something?" Hans asked as his stomach started to grumble.

"Oh, grow up, dude," Kevin told him. By then, they were right by where the bus was supposed to show up. Unfortunately, it wasn't in its usual spot, which the redhead found kind of strange. Watch, it's having engine trouble again.

"Where is that stupid bus?" Hans asked, fidgeting.

"Don't worry, Hans, it's coming," Nazz assured him with a smile.

"Rolf isn't so sure," the tall, foreign boy remarked, looking off into the distance as his eyes narrowed.

"So, now can we go to a restaurant?" Hans asked Gabe.

"Let's wait a few minutes," the black-haired boy told him, getting annoyed by his roommate's behavior.

"Yeah, dude, chill out," Kevin told the blond boy, irritated as well. Unfortunately, the redhead spotted someone else who was arguably even more irritating heading his way. It wasn't that remarkable, since Kevin rode the same bus as this person, but he still preferred that Eddy not show up. "What are you looking at, Dorky?" he asked, glaring at the short boy who was feigning sadness. In addition, Edd was standing next to him.

"Hey, Kevin, it turns out that Ed's family just got Sarah back but they need some emotional support," Eddy told him, obviously beginning a sales pitch. "So, I thought I'd get some donations for them. Only 25 cents!"

"Let me handle this, Kev," Gabe told his red-haired friend.

"Dude, I'll get rid…" Kevin was interrupted by his friend with a simple gesture.

"Okay, I'll give you guys five dollars on one condition," Gabe said, looking at Eddy who looked at the far taller boy with a confused look. The taller, black-haired boy pulled out the five, holding it upwards and out of the short Ed's reach.

"Yeah, what?" Eddy asked.

"That Double D take the money to Ed's house himself," Gabe said, handing the money to Edd and turning around.

"Oh my," was all that Edd could say.

"What?" Eddy exclaimed, offended that Gabe would do such a thing.

"Hey, it's just that I don't trust you," the taller, black-haired boy told the much shorter one as he walked off with Kevin.

As soon as she saw them heading off, Nazz ran and caught up with the trio. "Hey, guys, where are you going?"

"Uh, we're just going to Big Belly Burger to get something to eat," Kevin replied. "Want to come join us?"

"Sure, dudes."

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As Gabe walked away, Eddy watched on, surprised that Gabe saw straight through his ruse. He didn't really care that much about Ed's family other than Ed, especially Sarah, so he probably wouldn't have given them the money for anything. Edd, on the other hand, was honest almost to a fault and wouldn't have let Eddy get away with his original plan.

"Well, Eddy, what did you learn from this?" Edd asked as they walked down the street, taking the long route since their bus didn't come. When Eddy didn't answer, the hat-wearing boy continued on. "A good reputation goes a long way toward getting people to trust you."

Eddy snorted. "Oh please, a good reputation doesn't get you nowhere with scamming."

"Eddy, you shouldn't use double negatives like that!" Edd countered.

"Yeah? Or what? The grammar Nazis gonna take me away?" Eddy joked. "You know, I didn't recognize that blond guy with Gabe."

"Oh, you mean Hans?" Edd asked, having noticed the kid's arrival the day before.

"What kind of name is Hans?" the shorter Ed asked. "Short for Han Solo?"

"No, actually. It's short for Johannes and it is…" Edd started to say.

"Yeah, yeah, like that's going to help us. Anyway, I was thinking…" Eddy started to grin. It took a brief second for Edd to process what he was most likely thinking of doing.

"Oh dear, you're not thinking of…" the sock-wearing boy started to ask.

"Oh, yeah, I am!" Eddy exclaimed, putting his arm around Edd's shoulders. "We're going to scam him. He's the newest kid in school, so he hasn't heard of us and so he'll be easy to scam! We'll make a killing off of him."

"That was exactly what I was afraid of," Edd groaned. "Can't we let off the scamming? It's getting us nowhere as far as our popularity is concerned. Plus, lately people have been beginning to ignore our little money-making schemes"

"No can do," Eddy told his close friend.

"Also, what about the fact that Hans is friends with Kevin?" Edd asked, continuing to find excuses not to scam Hans. "We don't want yet another beating from him, do we?"

"Hah! The way around that is getting him when he's not around shovelchin," Eddy replied as they reached the cul-de-sac. "When that happens, we swoop in for the kill."

"Oh my, you're making it sound like we're vultures," the taller of the two remarked. "Still, there is also Gabe to deal with. For crying out loud, he's almost as big as Ed!"

"Yeah, but that guy not gonna go after us!" Eddy told his friend. "Besides, Ed's still stronger and you're smarter than he is, sockhead!"

Edd took a deep breath, annoyed about going along with another one of his best friend's ridiculous schemes. "Okay, we'll do this, but we have to be careful."

"Hey, just go in, scam him and then get out before Kevin finds out! Piece of cake!" Eddy assured him.

###

When the four of them reached the restaurant, Kevin was about ready to kill Hans. Thankfully, the boy shut up when he actually started eating. "So, you guys got a lot of homework tonight?" he asked the group.

"Sure seems like it. It's the second day back from break and they're already piling on the pressure," Gabe commented with a grimace.

"Dude, I swear the teachers give us all that homework just to mess with our lives," Nazz remarked. "I had to quit the cheerleading squad because of it."

Hans swallowed a bite. "You were on the cheerleading squad?" he asked, imagining the blonde in a skimpy swimsuit.

"Yeah, dude. For a while, I was the head cheerleader since most of the seventh and eighth-graders were sick."

Kevin remembered that time. Most of the football team was out of commission and they had that disastrous game with Lemon Brook during that time period. He had to wonder why that was. At the same time, there was something else on his mind that he had to ask his friend.

"So, dude, what was with how you dealt with Eddy's scam earlier?" Kevin asked, confused about that.

"What about it?" Gabe inquired in response. "I just told him I didn't trust him with the money for Ed's family and gave it to Double D instead."

"Yeah, but now you're probably going to be a target for their scams," the redhead said.

"Hey, everybody's a target for their scams," Gabe told his friend with a smile. "You just have to avoid them and not fall for anything they say. That's all it takes, honestly."

Kevin was a bit confused by that. "Wait, so that's it?" he asked. "I've been dealing with those dorks, especially Eddy for years and all you do is avoid them and not let them sucker you into buying their stuff?"

Gabe nodded. "Exactly. You just can't let yourself trust anything coming from Eddy's mouth."

"And here I thought I was getting somewhere by…" Kevin paused for a second. The next two words were "pound them," however, he realized that Gabe probably wouldn't like hearing that, so he didn't say them. "Uh, yeah, man, I guess I'll try out what you do."

The black-haired boy grinned. "Hey, it prevents you from expending a ton of energy beating them up to try and get your money back. Not like I'd do that, of course. At the same time, they have suckered me a couple of times and it would probably be a bit different living on the same street as them."

"You're so right, dude," Nazz told him. "There are so many times when they just know how to push your buttons."

"So, uh, after this, how are we going to get home?" Gabe asked. "It's a bit far to walk for me."

Kevin looked at his three friends uneasily. By that point, Hans was done with his burger and sucking on a chocolate milkshake, looking at the redhead attentively.

"Yeah, man, how are we going to get home?" the blond boy asked, taking the straw out of his mouth.

"Hey, I know!" Nazz exclaimed, coming up with a suggestion. "We can call Kevin's brother and have him pick us up."

Kevin's eyes widened in shock. "You have a brother?" Gabe asked in surprise. "I've known you since the second grade. How come I didn't know any of this?"

"Oh, man…" the redhead grumbled, holding his head down in shame. "Nazz, why'd you have to mention him?"

"Hey, your brother's not that bad," she told him.

"Don't worry, Kevin, I have a brother too, but he's younger than me so he can't come and pick us up," Gabe told him with a bit of humor.

"Yeah, but you're not embarrassed by him like I am," the redhead replied.

"Oh yeah? You want to bet?" the black-haired boy asked with a wide grin. "Trust me, Hans has nothing on him as far as embarrassing."

"And I have a sister in case you're wondering," Hans said, glaring at Gabe for even implying that he was embarrassing.

"That's cool, dude," Nazz told the two boys. "And, hey, I've got an older brother that's the same age as Eddy's. He's not as good looking…"

"Hey, good-looking guys are overrated," Gabe joked. "Then again, from what I've seen of Eddy's brother from pictures, he wasn't that great looking back then. Gosh, that guy had a killer chin. Reminds me of this dirtbag I met at Mondo-a-go-go."

"Never been there, dude. Was it fun?" the blonde girl asked.

"No, not really," Gabe replied. "The rides were shoddy and the food was gross. Then there were the bathrooms. I told that guy, you know, the dirtbag I mentioned, and he told me to go back to Mexico. Yeah, that went over real well, especially since I'm not even Mexican. My dad's as blond as Hans over here and my mom's family is from…"

"So, you really want to call my bro?" Kevin interrupted, shuddering at the thought.

"Sure, dude," Nazz told him, handing him her iPhone. Kevin accepted the device, hoping it worked at least somewhat like his dad's own smartphone. It did, and after a few seconds, he had dialed his home phone and got an answer from his brother.

"Hey, dude, I'm at Big Belly Burger. Would you mind coming and picking us up?" He paused. "Yeah, I actually have a couple friends with me who live across Peach Creek. Yeah, they need to get dropped off, man. Okay, see you then. Thanks. Bye." Kevin glared at Nazz.

"So, he's going to come and pick us up, huh?" Gabe asked, looking forward to meeting Kevin's unknown brother.

"Yeah, dude. Trust me: my bro's kind of lame."

"I can't wait to see how lame he is," Gabe told him, jokingly.

A few minutes later, an old, grey Volvo showed up and out came a redhead much like Kevin but lacking the hat or the buzzcut, instead having slightly longer hair that looked like it came from the 70's and a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

"Hey, what's up, little bro!" he greeted with a smile, showing off his braces. His voice was more nasally and there was a small number of zits on his face.

"Oh, hey, man," Kevin responded, without a smile.

"So, you're Kevin's brother?" Gabe asked, grinning and holding out his hand for a shake, which Kevin's brother quickly shook.

"Yeah, the name's Kyle."

"Ay, el hermano de Kevin es un nerd," Hans commented, only letting Gabe understand what he was saying.

"Heck yeah, man! I'm as nerdy as can be!" Kyle said, getting the gist of what Hans said. "And there's nothing wrong with that, either."

"So, what do you like to do for fun?" Gabe asked as he got in the small, old car with the rest of his friends.

"Oh, this and that. I play a lot of videogames," the older redhead answered, starting the car up once everyone got in it and driving off.

"Dude, you don't even have any consoles," Kevin told him.

"Yeah, I'm a total PC gamer. You should see my Wastelander 4 mods," Kyle informed them.

"Oh, sweet. My dad plays a lot of games on his computer," Gabe told him. "I think he's got Wastelander 3 and New Denver on there, actually. And I think he's also created a couple of mods for it."

"Like what?" Kyle asked, continuing to drive and going past the school.

"Well, there's his companion mods, which he voiced, for better or for worse," Gabe informed him.

"Yeah? You should see my giant map that I'm hoping to complete so that Capernaum Game Studios, the company that makes those games, can hire me," Kyle told him.

"You know, it would actually be pretty cool making video games," Hans decided, slouched in the backseat.

"Oh, yeah, dude," Nazz remarked. "Dude, I wish I at least had a console I could play on."

"You're brother was a pretty big gamer, wasn't he?" Kyle asked.

"Heck yeah, he was, though that was just with console games," the blonde girl told him. "I think he was going to school for a degree in computer science just so he could make things like that."

"Yeah, that's so cool!" Kyle exclaimed.

You wouldn't even know the definition of cool, Kevin thought as they continued on toward Gabe's house. He was surprised his friends even liked his brother, though they all seemed to be getting along pretty well.

Kevin just shrugged, looking out the window as the houses flew by. He had no idea what was coming next.

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A/N: Yeah, I decided to update this fic after a while despite not getting any reviews. Oh well, reviews are overrated, anyway, since there are some pretty terrible fanfics with lots of reviews. I figured that it also gave me a chance to expand on the world a little bit. Plus, it also connects to a third fic I'm writing that takes place in the same universe (not an Ed, Edd n Eddy fic, I'm afraid, though both Eddy and his brother show up in it. It takes place seven years before the series, though).