A/N: Welcome back, everyone! I hope you are having a great 2016 so far! Me? I got a brand new AC hoodie for Christmas, black and red with a beaked hood! I hope those of you who read my Syndicate Christmas fic enjoyed it, and know that that was not the last you will see of the Frye Twins from me. I am so very excited to start this Sequence, considering I will admit there was too much time on Sequence 2, and this is what we have been building up towards for almost a whole year now. Glad to also start building on new characters, and bring you my version of what happened with Shay after the events of Rogue. There are a couple things that I want to cover real quick before we start. 1: For the eagle eyed readers, there is a special reference to the magic number from the Desmond games in the chapter "A Curious Thing". Remember the number, and you'll spot the little Easter Egg. 2: This one time, I am starting the chapter with a quick cast run with all the fancasts I thought of for each character. This is important to me, but I might not have a cast for some characters because I'm just not sure of who would fit their profile the best. And 3: I like to add BGM a few times, so there will be a few cues from now on when I have felt there is a need for one and it sets the mood of the scene. Sit back, relax and enjoy our start to Sequence 3!
Ubisoft presents,
In association with ABC-Disney Studios
Assassin's Creed Faith
Starring Kit Harington as Asgeir
Elizabeth Lail as Anna
Richard Madden as Jason
Georgina Haig as Elsa
Carlos Valdes as Zar
Arthur Darvill as Rory
Meagan Ory as Red
Cary Elwes as Keif
Troy Baker as Marc
Rahul Kohli as Willis
Alex Jordan (voice actor) as Troy
Bradley James as Rabbit
Daniel Portman as Torren
With Jerome Flynn as Matthew
Liam Cunningham as Keaton
Sam Worthington as Daniel
Adam Driver as Norik
And Steven Piovesan as Shay
Begin Sequence 3: The Reaping Eagle
Chapter 30: Winter is Here
Every day we tell ourselves that what we fight for is an end to this war. That we do it to protect our family, and our brotherhood. But that is a convenient lie that we all tell ourselves every time. The real truth is that we fight to keep this war going as long as we possibly can so that we win. Whenever either side loses, they just keep adding pieces to the board to keep playing. Some of us can't bear the thought that this war will use up all of our lives, and others would do anything to further us and save our side of this war, the freedom fighting Assassins. I, Asgeir Swortssen, the last of a long bloodline of Assassins, who was cursed with unnatural eternal life and immortality, care a lot less for that war, now. In fact, there is very little that I care about aside from killing the freak that slaughtered my family.
Ingrid. Hidden away in my mother's family's history, she returned with a broken mind and a desire for unjust revenge on the Assassins for sealing her in an urn for almost thirty years. The Assassin that had turned against her before, my father, is long dead now, but it was clear to me that Ingrid didn't care. She would destroy the Assassins and everyone else who was, in her eyes, remotely responsible for her imprisonment. However, in her efforts to tear apart my two half-sisters, Elsa and Anna, and myself she failed, and in her rage killed them both, cursing and letting me escape with my life.
That was thirty years ago, and since then the curse has taken it's toll on me. Every day I can feel my mind and soul wear down, no end in sight. Well, there is an end in sight for me, but one that ends with me turning to ice and my last breath leaving my body in a cold stream. So the only thing that I know that can save me is killing that freak. No "act of true love" for me, for what has happened to me and who I have lost has crippled me, making me incapable of feeling any love anymore.
One threat has been taken down, but now all that remains is her. And even though all my allies in my brotherhood say they are ready to face her, the truth is that there is a massive storm coming, and I am the only one who knows just how bad it is.
My name is Asgeir Daniel Swortssen. I am an Assassin.
The nightmares hadn't been getting any easier. Every night was the same hellish images I saw for the last seven years. It always started the same way: waking up, face buried in the snow on a mountain summit in the middle of the worst blizzard imaginable. My face feeling numb as I crawled out of the snow, I looked around in the snow for my blades when I realized I didn't have them.
Eventually while digging around in the snow, I found a knife. I grabbed it, my numbing fingers clenching tightly around the handle of it as I trudged on.
Through the mist of the storm I continued to see the shape of
"You're as weak as they come, Assassin."
Looking up in that bright haze, I started limping through the snow towards the shadow of a woman. A monster.
"As low of a snake as your father was. Do you take pride in his actions, knowing he aimed a gun at an innocent woman?" The shadow said as I got closer to her.
"You AREN'T INNOCENT!" I screamed, lunging forwards.
The ground suddenly cracked open and I could hear the loud shattering of ice breaking as I fell down the hole. Old memories raced alongside me as I fell downwards. Old voices.
"Another's evil does not justify your own, Asgeir."
"You hide knowledge of things that have yet to come that I want no part of! I banish you from my kingdom in the name of our king! Be gone with you, grateful I don't take your head for your treachery!"
"You wear that hood and then cause chaos and terror at every turn! You're as insane as he was!"
"Ah! You didn't even know! But how could you? The pages were destroyed long ago, after all. We're pretty much the same, this way, Asgeir. It'll be in our nature for the best Assassins to become the even better Templars!"
"The things you did to those people are unjustifiable in every way, Asgeir. You are an Assassin no longer!"
I felt my face get smashed into the bottom of the dark and cold cave of ice, the cracks in the floor making the image of the dreaded cross. I remember how the nightmare awaits me every night, and yet I feel it as badly as if it was the first time I saw it.
Two girls with rotting, frostbitten skin stood before me, their faces like black skeletons with rotting flesh clinging tightly to their skulls. One with a long blonde braid and another with two reddish braids.
"You let us die, Asgeir! Why didn't you stand and fight?"
"He's weak! He's not our brother! He's only a bastard that should have been put to the knife as soon as he was pulled out of our mother's womb!"
"You failed us, Asgeir! We're dead, and we're never coming back!"
I only sat down in the dark, curled up in a ball as I desperately pressed my hands to my ears, nearly breaking my skull trying to quiet them. It never did any good as they walked towards me, cursing and spitting my name. Then they changed into two men in Assassin hoods. One with spiked brown hair and the other with messy blonde.
"We spent our whole lives trying to shatter the chains off of every slave that we ever saw! Now we're dead and King George lives to continue with his injustice! All because of you! It's all your fault!"
"No…" I murmured. "nonononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono…"
"You're a pathetic waste of skin! You're afraid of Ingrid for what she is, because you don't understand her and what she can do! You're afraid of her and rightly so, for she is the righteous, and you are the reaper! She will win! She sees clearly that you are the monster, and she will cleanse this world of evil, ending it all with you after she's ripped everything you ever cared for!"
"SILENCE!" I howled.
As soon as I screamed it, Troy and Rabbit dissolved into snowflakes, leaving me alone in the dark cave. A small light seemed to illuminate far at the end of the tunnel, so I followed it, walking slowly with caution. Every night it was the same. Demons in the forms of those that I failed telling me that I would never be able to destroy Ingrid because of how powerful she was. And the demon in the form of that monster I killed only a handful of years ago. Those blank, pale eyes and bloody lips… And how they forced me to relive the worst memories I had of my life in the recent years, finishing with the worst that I had forgotten would be coming in a few minutes.
When I reached the end of the hall, I realized I was in the temple of the Assassins, where Novices would be inducted in their formal ceremonies. My father knelt in front of the fire, his hands folded to his chin.
"Why pray, father? We always say there are no gods up there." I asked, thinking nothing was out of the ordinary for what I saw. Dreams often feel that way.
"It's not exactly praying, son." He said, giving me a sideways glance up towards me. "I speak to whatever lies beyond the veil of death. Just hoping someone listens."
"Not very Assassin like of you."
"Yeah, well. That's life at this age. Can't seem to follow rules by the letter, no matter how much we want to."
"I'm afraid, father." I said, suddenly.
"Afraid that you aren't worthy to wear that hood?"
"Among other things. I'm afraid of Ingrid more than I would care to admit to anyone else. Part of me thinks I shouldn't come back to this, and just try to give up as best I can. Maybe just leave this place, The Gates, leave behind every hope and just try to find a way to die."
"So that's it, is it? She kills six people and curses you and she's beaten you. Your mission over."
"That's right. How can I even defeat her after all I've done? I feel like every move I made in the past years to tracking her down only led me right into her hand. Everything I did, no matter how much I tried, how much pain I inflicted on everyone I faced, I did it with the sole intention of hunting her down and killing her. Every second that my heart still beats is another second where I know that she's still out there plotting her ultimate scheme and laying down the groundwork. But here I am, stuck with everything ripped from me because of her. I can't do anything anymore."
Father smiled as he got up from his knees and sat down on the steps towards the altar as I sat down beside him.
"Your grandfather Norik had many struggles with his morality. In a way, his life as an Assassin had a fourth irony: we encourage people to think outside the chains of morals and ethics, but he struggled immensely on whether or not he should try to kill Cora. He tried twice, but failed both times. He would have argued to me many times that she was too strong with magic for him to ever get close enough to her to kill her. But I think that he was always lying to me but also to himself as much. Twice he lied to himself, and they are now decisions that stand before you. The first lie he told himself was that he could kill her if she wasn't so powerful in magic. But I often think that he had every reason and way to kill her but couldn't do it because he still remembered who she once was."
"And the second, father?"
"Well son, that's the one where those lies might seem to blur into one, but they are two, and no less. The second was that he always said to himself that he didn't want to kill her. It wasn't the Assassin way, he said. But it was that history between them that not only got in his way, but pushed him as well. Crushing the air out of him as the rock and the hard place closed in on him. Then comes the decision that you will have to face when you finally are given the chance to kill her. Do you have to kill her, but don't want to for the sake of the memories of your half-sisters? Or do you want to kill her for everything that she has done to you and those that you care about, but don't have to?"
Suddenly the temple around us began to crumble, the bricks and mortars falling down and turning to smoke as they hit the ground. When the temple was completely gone I saw my father standing on the top of the gallows as I stood among the onlookers. King Agdar and my mother, Queen Gerda were looking out into the crowd as they booed my father and yelled up, throwing rotten vegetables and dog shit at him. The executioner held the greatsword of the Arendelle royal family in it's scabbard as Agdar called out to the crowd.
"Good people of Arendelle! This man, Daniel Swortssen, stands before you on the charges of murder, treason, and fornication! He has made attempts on both my wife's life and my own, and now stands before you in the sight of gods and men to be executed for his crimes! Do you have any last words?"
As my father looked up at the King, grinning at him the way how he did, I turned and looked up into the hills that rose from the outskirts of the town and into the Arendelle mountains. In the distance, a number of men in white hoods scurried up the hill as fast as they could, but one only stood behind as he looked down into the town. It was a long way from where he stood from here, but he could see everything that was happening down here as clear as day, because that boy was me.
"If you're going to take my head off, Your Majesty, then you do it yourself!" My father called out, neither begging for mercy or bribery. "You owe it to me, considering what you did to my son!"
The King stomped over and punched my father in the face. "Enough of your lies!" He said, playing the victim card with his words. Like he never tried to kill an innocent bastard baby.
"Agdar…"
My father looked at Gerda with a softer expression. "It's alright, Gerda." The crowd was too loud for him to say what he whispered towards. "Our son is safe."
Agdar looked as though he would burst into flames with the fury that burned in his eyes, but then smiled as he held out his hand. The executioner in his black hood nodded as he waddled over and handed the greatsword to Agdar.
"Very well, then." He sneered. "In the name of the good people of Arendelle, and in the sight of gods and men, I hereby sentence you to die."
He was so caught up in the moment when he did the deed, that it took two very large men to pry the greatsword out of the wood that had been underneath my father's neck, because he had slammed the sword so hard into the wood.
I woke up on one of the tables in the pub, hearing the chatter of the crowd of people. I guessed the lockdown worked well enough since I wasn't outside the pub. I got up, brushing the dust off my jeans, and walked over to the bar.
Normally, I found only some of the Assassins that worked here in the pub eating breakfast at this time in the morning, but not today. Today the whole place was so crowded, some Assassins were sitting on the floor with their plates on trays. As soon as I got off the table, several troops I recognized who worked at the Outposts got up and sat down at the table, carrying on their conversation.
I rubbed my eyes and stretched, sitting down at my usual seat at the bar. Kevan dropped a mug of coffee in front of me, and a pamphlet beside it.
"It's Matthew and Keaton's team assignments for the course of the lockdown. You don't leave or come back inside Cormac's without at least one other member of your team." He explained.
I opened it up and looked it over. Each team had about four or six members, and jobs. I was on Lima Team along with Zar, Rory and Torren. Jason was also on the list, but there was an "X" beside his name written in pen. With his wrist badly sprained when he was fighting Zelena, he would be out of the big action for the time being.
The others on my team came in a few minutes later, and we took the last table available, in the corner.
When the whole team was assembled, Zar placed a folder on the table.
"Matthew handed this to me saying that every team will get one before we head out today. Only the leaders are to read them."
I took the folder from Zar and opened it. Matthew was testing me even further with this war of ours coming to the doorstep by making me the leader of this team. Ever since I returned, I was sure that he was opposing every decision I was making because of knowledge I had of the Master Templar, Shay Cormac that Matthew had destroyed long ago. I believed even then that he was still trying to hide the information from the other Assassins, but was telling me that he was testing me for the day that I would take his place as Mentor, not knowing that I had no intention of doing so when I killed Ingrid. The rage that drove me was all that I had left, and when I would slice her open, that would be it for me.
I opened the folder. The papers inside were mostly the small pieces of intel we had on Ingrid before she had frozen Arendelle, and the photo that had brought me here. I had first seen that photo on my last day in the Gates, the ancient prison for Assassin criminals that prisoners would always end with a death sentence by dehydration, starvation, or hypothermia. Untamed wilderness as far as the eye could see, and it still wasn't enough to kill me. Nothing would. At the time that I had first seen the photo I didn't know the blonde that Ingrid was speaking to in the photo. Now I knew that it was Emma Swan, the so-called "Savior" of the fairy tale world. As long as she didn't get in my way with this, she could call herself whatever the hell she pleased.
There was also a typed letter giving us our objectives that I was meant to read aloud.
"Teams Lima, Sierra, and X-Ray will head directly for the hostile building, Any Given Sundae and secure it, ensuring the Primary Target is there." I read. "If not, we begin monitoring the building for when she is there, and make our first move as soon as possible. All six remaining teams will be given thermometers and thermal scanners and will begin setting them up around town tonight, provided the Primary Target is not here."
"And me? What am I doing while you are out there, Asgeir?" Jason asked.
I looked down at the papers, looking for Jason's name and his assignment.
"It looks like you're our eyes above, J." I replied. "Matthew's put you down for our team's camera drone controller until your wrist is healed."
"Well, at least they're having me do something while I'm out of commission" He commented, rubbing his bandaged hand. The injury he received happened two days ago, when he was fighting Zelena the Wicked Witch. The doctors that patched him up at the hospital were not sure how long the injuries would last, but said they weren't so severe that he would have to stop fighting. Jason however, didn't want to take his chances to risk missing a shot, and destroying his reputation as the "one who never missed". He was brave, but not stupid, and knew that his sprained arm could get in the way. So he would be operating one of the drones we would have patrolling town as we searched for Ingrid.
Torren grabbed one of the papers on the table that was addressed for him. After reading it he got up.
"Matthew has something else he wants me to use down in the Bunker. I'll meet you guys at the ice cream parlour." He said. He walked over to the kitchen, where the secret door to the Bunker lay.
"All teams, assignments begin in ten minutes. Get to your ready positions." I heard over the radio.
I got up from the table along with the rest of the pub. People started filing around the pub, either heading for the Bunker, or the other eight people that weren't on my team assembling at the doors.
Keif and a few of his close friends started handing out weapons to each member of the three teams. We each got an M4 assault rifle and vests with ammunition.
"You head out, grab Ingrid, Asgeir kills her, then head right back." Keif said. "Simple as that."
As reassuring as he sounded, I knew that Keif was wrong. She would know that we were coming if she was anywhere near as smart as she was supposed to be, while still being so stupid as to cross me. But there would be no hesitation, and no mercy, no matter who tried to stop me.
Two young Assassins met with me just as the rest of them were getting their weapons. "Asgeir, right?" The taller, darker skinned one said. "I'm Sierra leader Willis, and this is X-Ray leader Marc. Heard good things about you from Matthew."
"You're considered a legend to some Assassins, brother." Marc said. "We're honored to fight alongside the White Reaper."
"Let's just get this finished." I replied, hefting my rifle's strap over my shoulder.
Marc and Willis shrugged as they walked over to their own teams and began going over their plans. I saw how overnight, the door had been tricked out with several security measures. A keypad was now present for unlocking the door from the inside and several deadbolts and steel reinforcements. From here on out, no one was coming inside the pub without verification that they were an Assassin from the cameras set up out front, or else the automated sentry guns would mow them down like a chainsaw to a blade of grass.
"Operation Icebreaker initiates in one minute. The doors will open in that time." I heard Matthew say over the radio. He was now downstairs in the Bunker's command room. Some of us had ear mounted cameras that were sending the feed right back to them, giving them as many eyes as they could in this.
I breathed slowly and deeply as the guard at the door then punched the keypad's code in, and opened the front door. Marc filed out, followed by Willis, and then me as our teams came out from behind us.
There was not a cloud in the sky that day, and it felt even a little warm. But it would not feel like that for long. The troops and I moved into attack formations as we headed wordlessly down the street in the clear and cool late morning. It would look suspicious as hell if anyone spotted a small battalion of Assassin troops suddenly kick in the doors of an ice cream parlor, but I saw that there was barely anyone on the street aside from a small group of civilians down the street from here. It was Emma, Charming, Snow and Henry walking Baby Neil towards us.
"Nothing changes." I said, the rage curdling in my lungs. "Civilians present or not, Ingrid dies within the hour."
The Charmings were too absorbed in their conversation to even notice us, and that was fine by me. Lima, X-Ray and Sierra hugged towards the left side of the street as we passed by the library and the Marine Garage. I held my rifle out with my right hand as I raised my hood with my left, and then approached the door to Any Given Sundae with the other teams behind me. Some of them peered into the window, but I was more focused on the note taped to the door.
"Freezers are broken. Closed until further notice." It said,
"Cute." I snarled under my breath. "It's not like she can keep that shit frozen herself. Oh, wait."
"If she thinks hidin' like that by taping a hand written sign to her door will stop yah, she has another thing coming, Asgeir." I heard the Irish bastard's voice say. He was standing right behind Rory as he said it.
One of the worst side effects of the curse that Ingrid inflicted on me was a severe hallucination that kept coming back to me. First it was merely voices in my head, telling me this person and that person planned to betray me, then in got worse when the voices started telling me to take care of some of them. Now they manifested into a demon that took the form of Shay Cormac. He taunted me, tortured me, and revealed the worst secret ever to me.
Marc pointed to two of his team members as they started getting the thermal sensors out of their packs. "I want those sensors ready to bug this place after I pick the lock open." He said, pulling out his lockpick set. Professional looking, I might add. "Kicking in the door's not going to help us in any way just yet."
Twenty seconds of picking, Marc wasn't done.
"Hurry the fuck up!" I snapped, urgently tapping the door with my rifle. I wanted this bitch dead by the end of the day, and at this rate, the snow would be on us by the time Marc would be done.
"I can only go as fast as I can!" He replied. "Jesus, this lock is hard! It's almost like it's been reinforced with ic-"
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" I heard. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"
I looked up as I saw Grumpy and Sleepy running around the corner from the Rabbit Hole bar across the street from where we stood. Sleepy had scratches all over his face, and they both looked like they had seen a demon. They had, I realized, after thinking it through. The worst one there is.
"Lima Team, follow me and we'll investigate." I commanded. "Sierra and X-Ray will stay here and have this placed bugged when we get back."
"Roger, Reaper." Jason said through the radio.
I heard the whirr of the small camera drone Jason was operating fly over my head back at Cormac's as we crossed the street, hugging the corner around where Emma and Hook were as they spoke to Grumpy and Sleepy.
"Okay, Leroy. What is it?" Emma asked, trying to calm him down.
It wasn't working. He still breathed fast and hard as he explained. "We were driving home last night and some thing blasted me with magic. The whole van's iced over! We woke up in a meat locker! Who's got that kind of magic?!"
Insert whatever comment I have made before about that freak right here. I couldn't say anything I hadn't before. The team rounded the corner as Emma noticed something.
"Maybe the person who made that?"
She had noticed a whole trail of ice going across the parking lot behind the bar and into a shipyard. As we noticed it lead into the door in the fence of the yard, it slammed shut.
Hiding like a craven whore this whole time for the past month and a half, and now she stupidly leaves a trail for us to follow? If it led into a trap, I'd go without hesitation knowing I'd get that much closer to her, able to escape whatever she tried to trap me with.
Lima Team and I walked past Emma and Hook with our rifles drawn.
"Uh, Asgeir?" She started.
"Back off, Emma!" I snapped as the teams started to jog towards the fence. "This is our threat, and has nothing to do with you. We're taking over from here." And no one was getting in my way to this kill. Otherwise, they would wish they had really thought again.
Emma seemed shaken by that, but didn't seem to listen to that order as we headed across the lot to the fence. It made no real difference to me if she stayed out of my way. Lima team, Hook and Emma followed closely behind me "DO NOT BLOCK EVER!" was written on the fence in big white letters.
The door wasn't locked, but I didn't feel like trying to open the door in the normal way. I wanted to show Ingrid just how much mercy she would get with this. I aimed my rifle and shot off the hinges to the door, kicked it hard, then led the team as we headed inside.
I could feel it getting colder in there, and even with the ice in my heart, I knew the chill was from her. So unlike her from before, to hide from us, but maybe we had shown her enough while she watched us from the shadows of her ice cream store. She knew just what was coming for her, and she should be afraid with every living bone in her body. I could taste her fear, and it was almost as sweet as I knew her blood would be.
Lima team filed behind me, then Emma and Hook went in with me. I held up my rifle's sights to my eye as I yelled out.
"You have ten seconds to climb out of whatever hole you're hiding in, freak. Then we set this place to blow!" I yelled out to her. "So come out and I'll gut you like a fucking pig!"
Why would she hide in here? If she closed her store only to hide from us here, she was either getting sloppy, or she had something else in mind. Something was not right.
I pulled back on my rifle's lever and held my breath.
"Zar. Smoke grenades at the ready. Flush her out. Rory, start setting up C4 charges if she tries anything clever."
Zar nodded and got out the smoke grenades he had been given and started walking towards the dumpster the ice trail led towards. He started pulling the pins and Rory set up the charges around as Emma watched, silent but horrified.
Suddenly, a blast of cold air came out from behind the dumpster, and Zar flew backwards as snowflakes started swirling around. They spun faster and faster through the warehouse before starting to form itself into something else. A massive snow monster, snarling and snapping at us.
"Aim and hold! Hold your fire!" I yelled out. "Hello, bitch." I sneered under my breath.
"Alright, that's a new one." Hook muttered.
We kept our rifles raised as Emma held her gun up cautiously. "We don't wanna pick a fight." She called out.
"Swan…" Hook murmured.
"I just wanna see what it wants."
She had no idea. I rolled my eyes in frustration. "Talking is over, Swan! FIRE!"
Bullets slashed through the warehouse air into the snow monster. It held it's arm up as every one of us emptied our clips into it. Then it yelled out. "GO AWAY!"
I unattached the empty clip off my rifle as the rest of Lima Team, Hook and Emma ran back through the door. Running back with them towards the Rabbit Hole, a mix of the team shot towards the snow monster with me trailing right behind, running and gunning. Sierra and X-Ray Teams had taken firing stances from across the street from the Rabbit Hole and were holding their aim until everyone but me were clear. As soon as everyone except me and the monster were out of the way of the firing line, I yelled out the order.
"OPEN FIRE!" I yelled out with the snow monster on my heels.
Some of them hesitated, but most of them fired, and while some bullets hit me, most of them ended up in the snow monster, who once again brushed them off like they were made of paper.
I had emptied my second clip into the monster, who I now realized looked a lot like Marshmallow, when we were back in the town's main square. The monster stood before us from beside the Rabbit Hole as the Teams took their firing positions, walking forwards as it batted a low power line out of it's way. Most of the townsfolk were out in the street, gawking at the walking snow pile before them.
"EVIL SNOWMAN! RUN!" Grumpy yelled out.
A lot of them didn't even have to be asked to do that, and soon chaos was on the streets.
"Lima Team to Bunker!" Zar cried out into his radio as we scattered, taking cover from the monster. "We need backup right now! Send in as many teams as we can so we can subdue this thing and minimize the casualties."
"Affirmative! Keep it busy as best you can!"
The teams took cover beneath the shop awnings, some of us darting into the open doors of the nearby shops, just barely keeping out of it's reach. I noticed the hardware store's door was open, and rushed in alongside Rory. We both ducked behind a shelf right by the window with the hammers and nails.
"Jaysus, that thing's gonna tear us a new one!" He cried out. "Yah wouldn't happen to have any hard liquor on yah, would yah?"
I knew what he was thinking, and drew my radio. "Bring as much fire weapons we have! Molotovs, flamethrowers, whatever! We need to bring this fucker back to the state of a puddle! Rory and I may be able to get some flammable supplies in the store!"
"Affirmative, Reaper. We'll stockpile all we got and bring what we can."
I gnashed my teeth as I drew my revolver, one Bullet loaded into it. Was it worth a shot to take on this thing? I wouldn't use one on Zelena, or Ingrid, but this might be different. Showing Ingrid how I wasn't pulling any more swings of the sword would be what I needed. To truly inject the fear into her. The fear that her life would end by the end of this.
One of the cashiers had soon enough abandoned his till to see what all the chaos going on outside was. "What the hell is that?"
"Evil snowman." Rory replied, walking back to his cover. I had been to absorbed in my brooding to notice that he had grabbed a can of lighter fluid and a bag of paper towels.
"…Oh." He said, quiet as a flea, not taking notice of the theft of his store. Rory would pay him later, I thought.
The radio suddenly crackled, and Torren's voice came on. "All Assassins! Clear the street! I'm coming in hot."
Rory and I stood up from our crouching positions to look out the window. A white van careened down the street in reverse from the east, swerving and cruising with both a wild lack of control, and a professional's skill. The van skidded to a halt across the street on the sidewalk, with it's rear end pointed at the snowman. It gazed angrily down at the van as it burst open. It was Torren in his full body armor, the Assassin logo glistening in red with crudely stenciled-on spray paint. He was holding a large cannon in his hands, not unlike the minigun he had wielded only the other day when he helped us defend the hospital from Zelena. But this one was different.
"HEY FROSTY!" He called out. "YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CALL ME?! THEY CALL ME 'H'. BECAUSE I'M TURNING YOUR ASS TO ASH!"
He screamed out as the cannon suddenly made the whole block turn into the deepest firey hell. The snowman yelled and backed away as Torren kept walking towards him, a mechanical dragon in his hands.
"All Assassin troops, give that prick everything you got!" Matthew called out from his radio. "Sierra and X-Ray, make sure the primary objective is complete!"
"Roger that, Mentor." Marc called out. "Reaper! Get that thing off our asses!"
Rory and I ran out onto the street, patches of fire on the pavement as Torren took a break. Well deserved, as the snowman was starting to back away in fear and walking towards the woods. Rory took out his lighter and tossed a roll of fluid soaked towels at the monster.
"Mentors." Zar said over the feed. "The snow monster's headed for the woods. Should we follow it?"
"Yes." Keaton said. "It might be heading back to Ingrid's lair if she's not at her store. We're sending another van of troops to go with you, but keep a visual on it. Let's see where it's heading."
Lima Team and I ran off following it with Torren in the back. Grumpy ran past us back towards the town square, panicking even more.
"THERE'S A MONSTER ON THE LOOSE! A MONSTER!"
I felt my jaw almost crush itself at my teeth clenching. He thought the monster was the snowman, but he didn't know who sent it.
Following the trail of large footprints it was leaving behind, we hurried behind in the van after driving it out of town. Zar took the wheel, figuring that he'd be able to intercept it by taking note of it's direction. When we found our good position ahead of the monster, we were by the Merry Men's smaller camp.
As Lima Team filed out of the van, Emma, Hook and David came by.
"What is it?" Robin inquired.
"It's some kind of- snow monster." David said, still shaken by what was out there.
"Bunker, we are set up to intercept the threat. Please advise." Zar said from the driver's seat.
"No monster shall cross our path." Robin swore to the group. "We shall give you our assis-"
"No thanks." I said. "We have this."
"Asgeir, what is that thing?" Emma demanded.
"That thing is what I'm here for." I said. "And that's all you get to know."
We heard a roar, and Lima Team raised their weapons.
"I have a visual!" Rory called out. "He's coming from the North."
"Give it what you got!" I heard Keaton yell out.
The monster stomped forwards through the brush, knocking over the brambles at it's feet like they were weeds in a garden. I gnashed my teeth as I ran forwards with my rifle raised.
"FIRE! FIRE! OPEN FIRE!" I yelled out.
"Nononono! Don't shoot!" Emma called. But I wasn't listening.
"It only attacks when it feels threatened." Hook cried.
Torren unleashed a devil's rage of flames towards the monster with his flamethrower, though this time it didn't back down like I expected. This time it backed away, and when Torren stopped spraying, it roared and extended claws made of ice from it's hands. The monster looked more and more like Marshmallow to me with every second, but I was certain Ingrid made it look like him just to toy with me. A trip down memory lane.
"C'mon! Lay down and melt, you shite!" I yelled out!
"Not even Assassin bullets can take it down." Hook realized. "I don't think we have what it takes."
"Emma does." David breathed.
I glanced back in anger. "I told you to stay out of our way! INCOMING!" I lunged out of the way as it swiped for me, diving onto the ground.
Emma didn't hesitate after that. She raised her hands, light from her magic radiating and blasting the monster backwards. I rolled over from my position and pulled out my revolver as the monster got back up.
"I'm seconds away from wasting one on this fucker, Ingrid!" I murmured.
The monster roared at Emma and blew ice wind at the whole lot of them, Lima Team scattering and taking cover.
"Take another shot at it, Team!" Zar cried. "On my mark!"
Suddenly, Marian ran up to the monster with a bow drawn.
"Hold your fire!"
She was about to shoot an arrow right at the monster, but she wasn't given the chance as it slammed it's fist into her, knocking her to the ground, thirty feet from me.
"Aim and hold!" Zar called out, preparing to take the shot again.
The monster stood above Marian, snarling and snapping, readying to deliver the killing blow. I held up my revolver, but I didn't take the shot. Refocusing my Sight, I noticed what was still haunting me since the night before: Marian was glowing red in my eyes, and the only reason that she would show up like that would be if she meant to kill me. Why? What did I do to her? I wasn't going to try to find out, but I started to think that maybe it would be the best course of action to hold back and let Ingrid's monster kill her. Something wasn't right with her, but whatever it was, it would be best to let it solve itself.
Suddenly, Regina stepped out from behind a tree beside Marian. Where did she come from, I wondered. She walked forwards and stood between the monster, and the woman who damned her last night. The Team once again held their fire, but kept it at the ready as Regina looked up at the monster, daring it to make a move. GThen she looked down at Marian, the fear and desperation in her eyes. I wondered if now she was reconsidering the harsh words she had been using on Regina the night before.
"Please." Marian looked up at her, pleading. "Help me!"
She got her answer when Regina vanished before her in a cloud of purple smoke. Marian nearly screamed out of horror and disgust as she looked up to the monster. Coming back from the dead only to end up dead once more at the hands of the Blonde Devil.
"No!"
The monster stomped forwards and was about to deliver the killing blow with a stomp on her, when suddenly he disintegrated. Regina stood behind his remains with her hand raised. I rolled my eyes as I fell backwards into the dirt, chuckling. I'm not sure at what, but I partly think of how glad I was that our final war against that freak was only beginning. Or maybe it was how we emptied so many bullets into that thing, and Regina took it down with a single hand movement.
Torren and Rory sat in the open back end of the van as Zar was on his phone talking with Matthew.
"This was some bold move made by her literally the day after Zelena was killed." Torren commented.
"We got no idea what goes on in that wacko's head, lad." Rory replied. "I say that we get back to the Bunker as soon as we can and stock up on as many flammables as we can."
"Agreed." I said. I pulled out my radio. "Sierra and X-Ray. What's your status?"
"A success, but there is something we might need to discuss when we get back. We are Oscar Mike."
"Right. See you there." I put my radio in my pocket and walked over to the open van door. Zar was just hanging up the phone.
"Matthew said we're getting a good solid feed from the store. We'll be seeing everything Ingrid is doing in that store."
I shook my head. "As much as that will be helpful, the bitch is smarter than that. She'll find the monitors and destroy them sooner than later."
"All the more reason we set up more monitors outside the store. Every field troop that wasn't fighting the monster spent the day setting up thermal scanners and thermometers across the town and forest. If we don't see Ingrid at her store, we'll at least be able to pinpoint where her lair is by figuring out the temperature fluxes."
"Well, that's better than nothing. We need to invest in finding out why that monster was able to take all those bullets like that. Make better weapons from what we got here."
"That's our second objective for now. Keif is already working on it at the Bunker as we speak."
"Alright then. If our objectives are complete for the day, then let's get this van running. We're done for the day."
Zar pulled the van up into the parking lot beside Cormac's, and we got out as the gate mechanically slid shut behind us and locked. Zar then raised his hand as he looked to the camera out front.
"Lima Team returning from mission." He called up.
"Confirmed." An Assassin's voice on the radio replied.
I heard a small beep and Zar grabbed the doorknob and opened it as the Team filed inside. Torren had to turn and move in sideways due to the bulk on his armour.
Matthew and Keaton were sitting at the bar talking with each other when we walked in. I saw Willis and Marc with their teams sitting at nearby tables as we sat down beside the Mentors.
"What the hell was going on out there?" Keaton asked as Torren ripped off his chestplate and sat down. "A snow monster?!"
"It was Ingrid." I said. "I'm certain of it. That snow monster she sent was to stop us from breaking into her store and setting up the monitors."
Matthew nodded to himself. "The woman clearly knew we wouldn't waste any time as soon as Zelena was defeated. We'll have to tread very cautiously going in. Think before we act."
"What's stopping us from going back down to that store the next time she's in there and putting a bullet through her brain?!" I snapped.
Keaton raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you need an answer to that question, Asgeir?"
"Please."
"'Hide in plain sight, and never compromise the Brotherhood'. If you think recklessly running down to that place and killing her the second you set eyes on her, then do it. It'll cost you a lot with the Order, including your hood, but if it satisfies your needs for vengeance against her, be my guest."
Jason walked in through the kitchen door just then, looking down at a tablet in his hands. "Monitors are set up and we are live." He said as he sat down. He looked up. "What are we doing now?"
"Never mind. Is she there, Jason?" I asked.
"No." He replied. "Place is really quiet. I had a talk with a few of the technicians on the monitors, and it was agreed that we best not act to hastily. Knowing Ingrid, she might sniff out the monitors before we even have a chance to find something of use. It's what Sierra and X-Ray are afraid of as well."
Keaton glanced at me knowingly. "You still want to rush in and kill her?"
Shay suddenly appeared behind him. "He's offering us to kill that bitch! Oh, please, please, please, please, please!"
I felt my hands ball up underneath the bar table. "No." I growled.
"Let me hear you say it, Asgeir." Matthew said.
That old man was pushing his luck. "I won't kill Ingrid until we have a way of doing it quickly and organized."
"Very good." He replied. He pulled out his radio. "Attention all Assassins. Lockup will commence at 7 PM. All field troops, if you have completed your assignments for the day, return to Cormac's as quickly as possible, and get some rest."
Upstairs in my room, I sat at the small desk I had by the window. Because of the troops that worked outside the pub were moved here due to the lockdown, most of them had to share rooms. I could hear the other Assassins in the next room over as I sat there in silence. The view outside my window was completely black; Cormac's was right at the water with my room facing directly away from the town.
Sitting there at my desk, I had my journal out. I had taken some precious moments in the 30 years of my exile to write down what I could. But so much of that was nothing but painful horrors, and while my father didn't believe in avoiding pain, I doubted even he could look back at what I had done and remained strong, let alone show pride. The cracks in my mind dealt to me by the Spell of Shattered Sight had compelled me to do the worst things, and there were moments where not only did I show pride in what I did, but I even felt a sense of pleasure from them. Pleasure that haunted me.
But even after all that I did that led me to being banished to The Gates, there was nothing that could prepare me for the secrets of Shay Patrick Cormac had been hidden away from the Assassins. Secrets that I knew I had to tell the whole branch sooner or later. Secrets that had been hidden in pages in his journals. The last sets of pages in his books that I had been led to believe were ripped out by various Templars, when in reality they had been ripped out by the man I had trusted to lead me my whole life, Matthew Lund. Through the hallucinations that Shay had cursed me with, I was able to truly see what lay within the pages, and now they were burned onto my mind like the hottest memory iron. I told Rory the other day what was in the first few pages, but he stopped me, saying he knew the rest. And now I could feel that with the inevitability of death soon to befall me, and everyone else I once cared for, now was as good a time as any to begin what I was about to.
Turning to a new page in my journal, I began to write what had been hidden from the Order for over fifty years: The missing pages of Shay Patrick Cormac's journal.
I was just finishing the first "chapter" of pages when I heard something. A clicking sound, followed by a zap, and then darkness began to drown me. I took out my lighter and flicked it on, the amber glow surrounding my fist. I walked over to the door of my room, opened it and leaned out. Several Assassins were walking by and down the nearby stairs as everyone from their rooms started heading down to the pub and into the Bunker through the darkness. Some carried flashlights while others carried lighters.
"What's going on?" I asked.
Willis was walking by when he caught my eye. "A blackout, we think. Whole town's got it. Some of us are heading down into the Bunker to get the backup generators set up, while some of us are heading out into town to help out, but we're not sure what's really going on."
I narrowed my eyes. "It's so obvious, isn't it?" I snarled, turning back into my room to get my weapons. "We broke into her place to set up the monitors so we could spy on her, so she takes away our electricity so we'll have no defenses. Ingrid's fighting back."
Cue "The Matador" by the White Buffalo
A/N: So great to be back! And as we will find out next present day chapter, Elsa saw nearly everything of Asgeir since he unknowingly threatened to kill her.