Chapter 16: Plans and Betrayal

"A hero is somebody who voluntarily walks into the unknown."

- Tom Hanks

-Faction 3-

"Alright, guys. Plan time." Tai clapped his hands together, standing from his chair to spread a map across the table. He nibbled his bottom lip, scanning the map. "… I've got nothing." Kari rolled her eyes and nudged her brother, pushing her way to the center of the map.

"Well first off, it's going to be hard to come up with a plan without Marla," Kari glanced at the door the captain of the guard stormed out of minutes before, "but that seems to be the least of our problems. Secondly, I recommend we find a place to even start…" Joe nodded in agreement.

"What about Izzy? Does he have any information of faction 1?" Joe asked Tai, resulting in a shrug from the man. "Oh! I gave Izzy a journal recently," Mimi added, "I think it outlined a few things about the reckoning, but I'm not one to read about someone else so…" Her words trailed off, Sora smiled at her friend.

"You kids are hopeless," Mel said from the large doorway leading to his shop. It was past closing, leaving the front door locked. "Come on, you have at least one Jumper, two lethal weapons, and some strange girl straight from a different faction." He motioned to the two assassins and Mimi., "you can start anywhere."

Sora nodded as she stood, beginning to pace the room. "Yeah… Before Sam and I arrived at the ball, Lanus was talking about power rising in faction 1. Power linked to Myotismon." Sam nodded, "He could only mean the cousins. Those two are crazy…"

Tai blinked, confused, "You two know about the cousins?" Mimi raised her hand, adding herself to the list of people aware of the wild antics of the crown in faction 1. "Yeah, they're pretty ruthless. And… They have Yamato…" Mimi's response resulted in a loud sigh from Tai.

"Lemme guess, he's their perfect weapon. Meaning he was sent to destroy Northside, aka Takeura's rebellion camp. Faction 1 is about to be a shit show if we don't do something fast," said Tai, rubbing the back of his neck. "Or it already is a shit show," Sam said.

"I have an idea," everyone turned towards Joe curiously, "how about we find out what we can here, using all of our skills, and see where that takes us." Sora nodded slowly, "Sure. Sam and I can prowl the rooftops and listen into conversations, Tai can pose as Roul, Kari can see what she can get out of people… And…" She looked between Joe and Mimi, "Joe and I can figure something out, you guys do your things!" Mimi said, smiling.

Sora shrugged, "Alright, good enough for me. Sam and I will split up and cover more ground." She smiled at her companion, grabbing her cloak off of the hook as she slipped it back over her body. "After you," she said, motioning to the window. Sam chuckled, slipping out of the exit into the cool night air.

Pausing at the window, Sora turned back to the group, "Guys. Don't get yourselves killed okay? I can't be in multiple places at once, but if you need help literally just yell. My hearing is preeettttttty good these days." Winking, the redhead entered the cold night.

Kari chuckled to herself, standing as she turned to leave the shop. 'Welp, I guess I'll go act as the damsel who just witnessed a massacre at her most anticipated ball. How will I ever find closure…" She waved over her shoulder as she headed to the side of town the nobility resided in.

Mimi and Joe both eyed Tai, laughing quietly at how overwhelmed he seemed to be. "Oh c'mon Taichi, everyone else is relaxed about this situation. Well, so far anyway." Tai shot a small glare at Joe, only resulting in a louder laugh from Mimi.

Tai didn't say a word as he grabbed his coat, slipping his arms into the sleeves as he fell into the persona of Lord Tyler Roul.

"Hm. You'd think finding out that the woman you've always admired doesn't actually want to kill you would put you in a better mood," Mimi said, watching the door. "Right? If anything it has made him more… Worried…" Joe sighed, tapping his chin. "You mentioned something about a journal? Lord Roul is a publisher. Perhaps he has some record of it."

Mimi stood quickly, clapping excitedly, "Yes! Let's search. I really want something to do in this fun little plan."

Tai slowly walked down the cold, dark streets of faction 3. He was going between different approaches of how to gain more information. Maybe I should go straight to the castle and reveal myself as a jumper who's head of the rebellion, he smirked. Wouldn't that be fun. Tai was going between confronting Marla on what she has learned, or jumping to faction 2 to just avoid conflict for awhile. Nah. I can't leave them… Maybe faction 1 needs me… "Wh-What?!"

His thoughts were interrupted by a dagger pinning the fabric of the shoulder of his coat to the wood building by his side. He pulled, trying to free himself, but with no success. "You know you're still on my to kill list…" The voice came from the roof next to him. He sighed in relief, smiling, as the familiar figure looked down at him, twirling a dagger between her fingers.

"How much longer are you going to keep me waiting?" He asked. She chuckled, gracefully pushing off of the roof. "Hm. I haven't decided how important you are yet." She smiled back at him, walking to face him. "Tell me, Lord Roul," she said his name with air quotes, "where are you off to to find out more information."

Tai looked at her, trying to pull his arm free again, but failing once more. "Well, I was thinking to see if Marla could help out," Sora raised her eyebrow at the mention of Marla, "or I was going to jump to faction 1." He noticed she looked at the ground at the mention of faction 1.

"Taichi… Faction 1 isn't a place anyone wants to be, or should be, right now. Just focus on the task at hand, okay?" She softly smiled at him, "As for Marla, good luck. I think she's more than a bit mad that you've let not one, but two assassins onto your rebellion team."

He chuckled, "Yeah, she'll get over it. Hopefully." His brown eyes looked over at her, tracing her profile as she looked at the sky, studying the stars. "Hey Sor?" She didn't avert her gaze, "Hm?" He cleared his throat, "I'm… I'm sorry you had to go through what you went through… After the reckoning with no one there to help you through it."

He noticed that his words made something in her eyes darken, but she was great at hiding it. "It's okay, Taichi. I've had time to recover. It's made me stronger in the end," she turned towards him, giving him a reassuring smile. "But I did miss you and I'm happy my dagger missed your throat that night." He let out a nervous chuckle.

"Anyway, I should get going…" She turned to slink into the shadows, hesitating. "Please don't do anything stupid. I didn't like not having you around." He nodded to her, smiling. "Promise… Wait, Sora!" He yelled at her as she turned down the dark alley. "My arm?!" He pulled against the dagger again, her laugh echoing against the wall. He shook his head, smiling as he struggled to free the fabric. Welcome back, Sora.

Kari padded down the paved roads of the nobility town of faction 3. She sighed, wondering where to start, the cool air making her breath fog up. Where do I even start… Everyone is probably too shaken up to even talk about simple subjects.

She crossed her arms, stopping as she noticed a red headed man heading her way… Quickly. Oh dear god please not tonight. Not hesitating, Kari turned right, her feet hitting the ground quickly. Sora did say to yell… She opened her mouth, ready to yell for help.

The yell caught in her throat from the surprise of a dead end. She looked side to side, turning around slowly as she backed against the wall. Nowhere to go. Why now? Her breathing quickened as she heard footsteps getting closer. She closed her eyes.

"Kari?" A man's voice, who was very out of breath, said to her from the entry of the ally. "Why did you run?" The girl peeled her eyes opened, gasping excitedly. "Izzy?!" She stood, closing the space as she hugged him close. "I'm sorry… Everyone is just on edge at the moment…"

He nodded, understanding. "I've heard… Lanus' murder spread quickly… Along with the slaughtering of multiple darklings. But I'm not complaining." She chuckled, pulling away. "What brings you to faction 3, Izzy?"

Izzy was bad at hiding his feelings, making him an open book. "Izzy…" He inhaled deeply. "It's… It's Takeura. Him and Yamato…" Kari shook her head, "Takeura and Yamato what?"

"Kari, faction 1 is close to its end. The crown caught wind of the rebellion and sent Yamato after them. He is set on killing and ending everyone associated with the plans," he let out a shaky breath, "and Yamato has already killed a few soldiers… With his random ice powers?"

Kari hugged herself, looking at the ground. "Ice powers… I mean I know some of us have abilities, but ice powers?" She shook her head, "We have to tell the others… Is there a way to get us all to faction 1." Izzy shrugged, "Not that I know of, but I have Jumped with Mimi before, meaning it is possible." Kari nodded, grabbing Izzy's arm and pulling him back towards Mel's Goods.

Sora made off down the alley, smiling to herself as she heard the last of Tai struggling to remove the dagger from his coat. He can keep it, but I hope he doesn't need it. She pulled herself up onto the roof, giving her a better view of the path Tai was heading. So he is checking up on Marla, she thought as she watched him turn down the street to the castle.

Marla made Sora nervous. Not because she was a gorgeous, strong woman, but because Marla didn't trust Sora… So Sora, naturally, didn't trust Marla. Sora. You're an assassin. No one should trust you. The voice in her head did have a point, but she rolled her eyes, finding it to be wrong.

She silently trailed Tai to the gate entrance of the castle, I can't just walk in… She groaned in frustration, her eyes scanning her surroundings.

Deciding that scaling the side of the castle to the back door was a bit too dangerous, for the back side of the castle was a steep cliff that led to dark, swirling fog. I could scale to that window… She decided on that. She silently made her way to the side of the castle, slicing the throats of only three darklings, not bad.

Rubbing her hands together, Sora began to climb the stone side of the cold, slick castle. She shivered as the dark fog licked at her ankles. A bead of swear slid down her forehead, halfway there. Reaching for a stone, Sora's hand slipped, leaving her dangling. "Oh are you serious…"

She swung herself up, hoping the next stone wouldn't slip. It didn't. No time to celebrate, she thought as she finally made it to the window, pulling herself inside.

The room was dark and cold, no sliver of light given. She dug deep within herself, using her ability to improve her eyesight and hearing. Nothing… Weird… She crouched and silently walked along the wall, feeling for a door. She felt her fingers wrap around a door handle. She silently pulled it, the door opening with a small creak.

Peaking her head into the hallway, Sora was surprised to see no darklings. Almost like they were expecting… Tai. Her eyes widened. Turning down the hallway, Sora quickly made her way to what she thought would be the center of the castle.

Thoughts flew through her head. How did they know this would be the plan? They must have known he was Roul… How would they know? Is he dead? Am I going to be too late? She was out of breath, her lungs screaming for oxygen, she still hadn't ran into any guards.

Her ears picked up on muffled voices, "Ah… Roul… Or should I say, Taichi Kamiya?" A dark, deep voice said. Myotismon. "How long has it been? 5 years?" Sora could hear the sarcasm in his words. "I don't know what you're talking about, my Lord." Oh Tai. He knows. Sora pressed her ear harder against the wall, trying to listen for movement.

"Oh don't play stupid…" She heard footsteps. Multiple footsteps. The guards. Darklings. A lot of them. "Marla has given me all of the information I need…" Though it wasn't time to feel triumphant, Sora couldn't help but giver herself a mental high five. "Guards… Take him." That's when she heard multiple types of movements, feet and swords.

Not wanting to risk staying hidden for much longer, Sora flicked her wrists, releasing daggers into her palms, and turned to enter the room.

*Author's Note*

Sorry about the slower updates lately! Life has been getting a but crazy! I might have to step aside and write a few one shots until I come back to this one. Thank you for reading :)