Chapter 2:
Talon awoke with a start as a loud bang sounded outside the door, untangling himself from the serpent's grasp he sprang to his feet. He reached for a blade on his leg only to find it devoid of weaponry
"Damn it" Talon carefully crept around the room, looking for a weapon. Finding a blunt totem on the dresser he picked it up, weighing it in his hands. Satisfied with his choice he made his way over to the door, standing beside it with the wooden object in his hands ready to strike.
"She's still in here sir" he heard someone say along with the sound of a sword being drawn out of a scabbard.
"She wouldn't eat the meat?" he heard another mutter. Talon's eyes widened, remembering the servants he had ran into yesterday.
"Bastards" Talon muttered, tightening his grip on the totem.
"Have you found the gutter rat yet? As I remember he was not in his room."
Talon's eyes widened, remembering that Katarina had slept in his room the day before. She's smart enough to get out he thought.
"Just go in and finish the snake, we need to find Katarina" he heard footsteps getting quieter as one of the men walked away. A thud sounded on the other side of the door as a hand slapped against the wood. Slipping to the side he held the totem above his head, ready to strike. He glanced over at Cass, she was somehow still asleep despite all the noise that had gone on. He heard someone thump on the door, and jiggled the handle to try and open it. Cass opened her eyes, looking to up to see Talon beside the door, wielding a small wooden object. Cassiopeia hissed quietly, catching the assassin's attention. He quieted her, placing a finger over his lips and gesturing to the door. She slithered off the bed, taking up an offensive stance next to him.
The door finally gave in, torn off its hinges as it slammed down on the ground. A man peeked his head just in time to be knocked flat down by the totem. Talon quickly charged out, grabbing the next surprised man. He noticed the badge the man was wearing before he threw him into the wall. There were two more men standing beside the door, weapons at the ready. Talon sprang into action, blocking the downward cut that the first man threw at him, the sword striking against the floor. The second guard had a different approach, instead of striking he charged Talon, attempting to knock him to his feet. He collided with Talon and pulled them to the floor, raising his fist in the air he struck down on the floor just in time for his knuckles to break on the hard surface, realising that Talon had slid underneath him. As he stood up and looked back at Talon fighting his companion he decided to enter the room instead. He turned around the corner and froze. Literally.
Talon flinched as he heard the scream, fighting the urge to look behind him. The guard he was fighting however was not as lucky, he had been looking at his friend when Cassiopeia froze him, also turning him to stone. Talon realized that he was stuck in the grasp of the man, his hand jammed between the tight stone.
"Cass" he said, looking over at her. She slithered over to see that his hand was stuck.
"Can you find something to break it?" he asked, looking around at the floor. Cassiopeia had other ideas however, realising her venom glands and spitting saliva at Talon's hand. His eye twitched as he felt the sticky substance cover his appendage, it did however, allow him to easily slide his hand out.
Picking up the sword the man had dropped the duo crossed the corridor to see if Katarina was inside. Talon warily pushed the door open, sword at the ready. The room was trashed, the bed turned on its side and papers littered the floor. Katarina's clothes were strewn across the room, including a wide variety of lingerie.
"Let's go" Talon said, taking Cass's hand and dragging her towards his room. They quietly walked through the hallways, carefully avoiding the bodies lying on the floor, knives protruding from them in various places. Reaching Talon's room, he noticed that the door was close and intact, he motioned for Cass to be quiet and follow him. He stood beside the door, reaching for the doorknob he flung it open, pushing inside.
A man was dressed in his cloak inside, the attire obviously too big for him as he attempted to fit the arm blade. He looked over to see the enraged man entering the room, sword at the ready. He lifted the heavy weaponry up, only for the blade to come out the wrong end and stab him in the shoulder. Talon reacted quickly, shoving his sword deep inside the idiot's chest and pushing his body off of the blade. He bent down, stripping the man of his clothes. He realised that the blade has torn through the cloak, blood staining the interior. Talon inspected his arm-blade, finding out that it was also broken. Grunting with anger he threw the outfit to the side, instead looking around the room. The rest of his belongings had been either discarded on to the floor or taken. His variety of weaponry usually stationed on the wall was gone, along with the cloaks he had.
He walked around behind the bed, pressing one of the stones into the wall. The bricks began to pull in and move to the side. He walked into the darkness, leaving Cass to wonder what was inside. It only took Talon a few minutes to remerge from the room. He had a red bandana around his neck and mouth. Along with a white sweat shirt and pants. Cass admired him, the attire complimenting his well-maintained hair and muscles. He lifted the metal contraption on his arm up, springing the blade out. Satisfied with its condition he walked out past Cass, gesturing for her to follow.
The rest of the Du Couteau mansion had suffered a similar fate. Part of the walls had been blown off, the marble floor littered with plaster, guards and servants alike littered the floor, their corpses lying still amongst the mess. Katarina was fortunately not among the dead, but neither could the duo find her. Talon cleared a path for Cass, kicking the dead bodies to the side.
Across the courtyard in the training facility a battle raged on. Katarina and few loyal guards stood back to back as they were surrounded by Noxian soldiers.
"Who sent you" Katarina seethed, blowing a lock of stray hair out of her bloodied face and readying another round of knives. She was running out quick, her usual limitless supply of magic knives draining her as she struggled to summon more.
The Noxian soldiers said nothing, standing their like silent sentinels. Then all of a sudden they charged, yelling out various war cries. A few of them fell instantly, knives piercing their skin. However many knives Kat threw their seemed to be more guards to take the fallen one's place. She heard a cry, looking back to see one of her men fallen, a spear sticking through his gut and coming out the back. She raced over, shunpo'ing to the assailants and drawing her knife across their necks, the blood gushing out as they fell to their knees. The ground was quickly becoming a puddle of crimson blood as more and more men filed in.
It wasn't long before another guard had fallen, an axe splitting his head in half. She heard the blood-wrenching squelch as the axe was pulled out and swung around to decapitate the body. Kat was about to jump on him when chains shot out of the ground, latching onto her arms and pulling them to her side. Another pair shot out, restraining her legs. She could feel her magic and stamina draining as she dropped her knife, the chains forcing the redhead to her knees.
"Oh kitty" purred a voice behind her. Katarina glanced down at the chains, they glowed alternatively. The ones restraining her arms were purple while her leg restraints were yellow.
"Leblanc" she spat, tensing her body.
"Oh how the tables have turned" Leblanc whispered, stroking Katarina's head as she sat on her floating staff.
The last of the guardsmen stood in front of the magicians, panting with effort as his halberd dripped with blood. He spun it around, his gaze never leaving assassins as the blade sliced a solider in half, his charging body falling to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Leblanc looked at the way the couple looked at each other, giggling to herself in glee.
"Oh this will be so much fun!" She said, jumping down off the staff and waltzing over to the guard who visibly tensed, aiming the long weapon at her.
"Compensating for something?" Leblanc asked innocently, standing just out of the weapon's range with her hand on her hip, her staff waving suggestively at him.
The guard growled, stepping forward to swing the weapon at where Leblanc was to see that she had teleported through him, the magic punishing his body. He turned around rapidly, thrusting it at her new location. He swore in frustration as she had disappeared again.
"Katarina!" he heard someone in the distance, he was distracted momentarily as he looked over to see Talon rushing towards her. He felt a rush of hair as he looked up, seeing Leblanc descending on top of him. She swung the staff hard, it collided with his face, shattering the cheek bone. He tumbled to the ground, losing grasp of the weapon and slamming into the dirt as he coughed up blood. Leblanc merely smiled, landing just behind him.
Katarina struggled in her restraints, watching the older magician toy with the guard. The man lay on the dirt in front of her, looking up to her with hurting eyes. I'm sorry. Leblanc let out a sharp laugh as she cast a projectile at the fallen guard, the object slamming into his back and sticking to the skin. She followed it up with a purple projectile as it flew towards its mark.
"No!" Katarina screamed, trembling with rage and on the verge on tears. The guard look up, smiling at her sadly before the sigils collided. Exploding the mark and showering Kat with blood. Her face equally as red as her hair. She hung her head down, the tears flowing freely as the ethereal chains retracted back to Leblanc who was strutting over to Kat, more soldiers flowing through the gap in the wall as their armour clunked on the ground, weapons held high. Leblanc noticed something in the distance as she looked towards the mansion. A few metals objects were suspended in air and travelling towards her, fast.
Leblanc's smirk dropped off her face as her eyes widened, she looked directly at the blades as they travelled over her head. She looked to the gap in the wall at the ensuing bloodbath. The soldiers were being decimated by some unseen threat. Man after man fell, cuts covering his head. The men who were just behind her lay dead, shuriken's sticking out of their backs.
The soldiers stopped flowing through the gap, the dead bodies of their comrades denying them entry as well as the flurry of blades that were omnipresent.
Leblanc backed away from the blood storm slowly, almost tripping on a corpse. When the men stopped falling and the screams were cut silent she looked at the bodies, hoping that one of them was Talon. After a moments she turned around, making a run for it. However she felt her movements slowing, her brain started to blur out at she looked at the ground to see a purple substance bubbling beneath her feet, the fumes invading her senses.
When her senses finally cleared up she looked up to see Talon slowly approaching her. Leblanc grabbed her staff, using it to lift herself to her feet. A pair of fangs flew through the air, knocking the magician to the side as they drew blood on her arm. She looked in the direction of the projectile to see Cassiopeia slowly slithering towards her, fangs drawn in defiance. Leblanc let out a cry of pain as a knife sliced her left leg, causing her to lean on the staff. Katarina walked towards her from the direction of the knife, spinning another in her fingers. Leblanc stood on her feet wobbly, clutching the staff with all her might.
"I will end you" she screamed as the sister's approached. A sharp bark resonated behind her as she limped around to see Talon standing before her. He threw a rake of shurikens at her, the sharp spinning objects slicing her skin and landing in the dirt behind her. She let out a short laugh, bending over to cough in pain.
"Is that all you've got?" she asked weakly, slamming her staff into the ground. Chains shot out of the dirt, wrapping around Kat and Cass's arms, pinning them to the ground. Another chain shot out of Leblanc, aiming for Talon. He side stepped it, bringing the blade down to snap the tether. She shot another chain, followed by another as she screamed in rage, unleashing a barrage of magic on him. Talon did his best to avoid them, however one managed to snag onto his arm, causing him to lose balance as more latched onto his other limbs. Leblanc limped over to the trapped man, using the staff to close the distance.
"Ready to die, gutter trash?" she asked, shakily raising her staff. Talon smirked, activating the device on his arm-blade. The shurikens lying in the dirt behind her became dislodged from the ground, spinning towards her before burying into her backs. She let out a short gasp before falling to her knees, the chains holding Talon weakening until he could snap them, breaking free. Leblanc let off a weak sigil, Talon merely batted it away, crouching down in front of the kneeling magician. She looked up at him, her eyes blurring.
"You fucked with the wrong family" he whispered in her ear as he thrust the blade into her mid-section, it slid out the back, covered in a crimson sheen as Leblanc gasped for breath. Talon held the blade in the air, lifting Leblanc's feet off the ground as she slid further down the blade. The light faded from her once vibrant eyes and her body slumped forward, her blood stained hair swinging in the wind. Talon cast his blade to the side, causing the limp body to slide off and tumble to the ground.
Talon looked over at the sister's, Katarina was kneeled over, upheaving the contents of her stomach amidst the sobs that racked her body. Cassiopeia sat beside her, holding her hair up, a pained expression on her face. Talon inspected the gap in the wall, he could hear the men shouting order for retreat followed by the clanking march of metal. He walked over to the fountain, the water had stopped flowing but sat still at the bottom. He scooped a handful onto the cuts that littered his arms, stinging the wounds. He brushed his hair to the side and dunked his face into the water.
He came up thirty seconds later, gasping for air as he gripped the side of the fountain, his knuckles turning white. A whistling sound travelled through the air, catching Talon's attention as he looked to the skies. A large, black object was travelling towards the mansion leaving smoke in its wake.
"Get down!" Talon yelled to the girls, sprinting towards them.
"What?" Katarina asked as Talon slammed into them, carrying them to the ground and bringing his cape up to cover the sisters as the object entered the mansion. The trio was thrown forward by the force of the blast, debris flying everywhere as the mansion exploded.
Talon started to yell as blocks of stone and wood slammed into his back, tumbling up his body and continuing with the air flow overhead. He kept his stance however, covering the cowering girls from the blunt of the explosion. A large wooden beam came spinning towards them, knocking into Talon's side and breaking his ribs with a crack.
When the explosion stopped and debris settled to the ground Talon let the cape down, resting his hand on the ground as a sharp pain drove up his side. Cassiopeia sprang up, grasping on to Talon to stop him from falling. Katarina stood up from her position, a blank expression on her face as she looked at the wreck in front of her.
Half of the mansion had been blown up, the vital support structure demolished as the rest of the standing building lurched unsteadily. Another whistling sound signified a secondary explosive device had been disposed, this one even louder. Katarina could see it approaching the building speedily. She grasped Talon, attempting to pull him to his feet.
"There is another one coming, we need to run!" She screamed, tugging on his arm.
"Get in front of me." He said coldly, ignoring the excruciating pain his body was experiencing.
"We need to run! NOW!"
"There's no time!" Talon yelled, pulling Katarina down.
As the second rocket neared its target, Talon closed his eyes, visualizing the general's face as he brought the cape back up.
A rumbling sounded throughout Noxus as the Du Couteau mansion was blown into oblivion. The trio were thrown violently into the air as Talon opened his eyes, the ground no longer beneath him. He tumbled ungracefully, flying debris knocking him around. He still held the girls in his arms however they were unconscious. He noticed the fast approaching wall as the blast had thrown them towards the outer walls of the compound. Talon pulled the ladies in tighter, flipping himself in mid-air so that he was facing his back to the wall.
The last thing Talon felt was the crack of stone as he collided with the wall, creating a crater on impact.
Leblanc looked over to the grim face of Swain, his bird cawing loudly beside him as he looked upon the explosion with disinterest.
"Are you still not happy dear?" She asked, placing her hand on the side of his wrinkled face and pushing it so that he was looking at her.
"I've never been happier" he said, his face cracking into a sly smile. He twirled the woman around causing her to giggle as the couple danced in the light of the fires.
"How did you like your new clones Emilia?" Swain asked, spinning her around with his hand.
"Oh they are divine Jericho" she said seductively, kissing his cheek tenderly.
Swain looked over to Darius, motioning him over.
"Make sure the Du Couteau's are dead" he rasped, using his cane pointedly.
"Yes Sir" Darius answered, running back over to the stationary troops and giving them orders to march.
"Has Marcus been located yet?" Swain asked, turning back to Leblanc. Her eye twitched as she gripped her staff tighter.
"No" she muttered, glancing over the fire.
"Do not fret, you will find him, in good time."
He placed his hand on her shoulder, looking out over the destruction with her again.
"Never been happier" he whispered, causing her to grin wildly.
Author's Note:
Sorry for taking so long, I've lost motivation to write again and I'm kind of obsessed with Counter Strike: Global Offensive right now. I'm going to try and write some more but here's chapter two.
halowenjo