The three dark forms stood, side by side, on the street.
It was after midnight, the area was dark and very white.
The dark forms were masked and hooded, with cloaks; their entire outfit was black and dark grey with a silver trim. The only visible skin was around the eyes. Each bore a sword on their backs that was angled with the grip to their left shoulder and two of them had quivers of arrows on their backs and a large, black and silver compound bow in their left hands.
The drug dealers just stared at the three apparitions, as they emerged from the swirling snow, and then looked at each other, before running for it. They didn't get far as the two apparitions with the bows, raised their weapons and then each notched and released an arrow. Seconds later, the two dealers fell face down into the snow. A single arrow shaft extended vertically from the back of each body.
Both men were very dead.
The dark forms proceeded to gather up all of the money and drugs, before vanishing back into the dark night and swirling snow.
Later that day
Friday
West Ridge
"Go!" I growled, into my cell.
"Hit Girl! It's Voight. Happy New Year! You guys been using your bows, recently?"
"No, just bullets!" I responded. "And a Happy New Year to you guys, too!"
"Well, we have two dead bodies from last night: two drug dealers, with arrows in their backs. Not overly bothered about the dealers, but I might need to do you for littering!"
"Funny! Not us, this time, Voight. Let us know if you find out anything; we may have some competition in town!" I replied.
"Will do!" Voight said and dropped the connection.
"What was that about?" Dave asked.
I passed on the gist of the call.
"Another archer?"
"I hope not!" I responded, unconsciously rubbing my left arm, where The Archer had hit me. "But, we take shields when we go out!"
"Better safe than sorry!" Dave agreed.
Two days later
Sunday
Safehouse A
"Okay, be safe! You both got your shields?"
"Yes, Hit Girl!" Shadow and Jackal replied.
"Then let's hit the road!" Kick-Ass said.
Due to the reports of these mysterious archers, I had decided to forgo the motorcycles for Jackal and Shadow, but I retained my Ducati and kept myself mobile by weaving around Beast and trying not to stay in one place too long. I vividly remembered what had happened the last time that we had met an archer while I was on a motorcycle!
This was to be a routine patrol to try and find some more information about these people. We had decided to err on the side of caution and walk away from any fight; at least until we knew what we were up against.
We headed towards the centre of Chicago and drove around the dark, but currently busy streets. After a couple of hours, we started to get a little restless, with no action. We had not even seen any criminal activity, which in its self, was a little strange for a start!
..._...
"Fucking hell!" Kick-Ass shouted, as he stood on the brakes.
I did the same, coming to a smoky halt on the Ducati.
Directly in front of us, about twenty yards away was... Well I didn't quite know what, exactly. For some reason, two words came to my mind: Skyrim and Nightingale! It was definitely a woman, though and she wore a sword on her back and held a compound bow in her left hand. She stared at us for a moment, then nodded and ran down an alleyway.
The alleyway was narrow and partially blocked so Beast could not follow.
"Battle Guy, where does that alley lead?" I asked. It was obviously a trap, so I wanted to be prepared.
"Checking... Okay, it leads behind the block and to a parking lot, which should be empty at this time of night," Battle Guy advised.
..._...
We drove around to the parking lot and found three similarly equipped Nightingale's waiting for us. The one that I had seen previously had taken up position to my left of the other two. The one in the centre had a sword, but no bow or quiver and seemed to be the leader. We left Beast and the Ducati and approached. Battle Guy was watching, using a camera mounted in Beast. We stopped when we were approximately fifty feet away; Kick-Ass was to my right, with Shadow to my left and Jackal to the right of Kick-Ass. Shadow had her compound bow in her hand and an arrow notched. Jackal was similarly prepared and so was I.
"We are the Sisters of Trinity," The three woman chanted, together.
"We are Dusk," The woman on the left started.
"We are Shade," The woman on the right continued.
"We are Night," The woman in the centre finished.
"Nice!" I growled sarcastically. "Why are you in Chicago? I protect this City!"
"I don't think so, Hit Girl!" The woman called Night said. "Your reign is over!"
All three women were using voice modulators, just like those that Jackal and Kick-Ass used. In unison, the outer pair of women raised their bows, while the other drew her sword.
..._...
"You are finished!" I growled in response, as I raised my bow and released an arrow, then rapidly seized another arrow and notched it to the string.
My first arrow, which was aimed at the woman in the centre, called Night, was deflected by the armour on her left arm!
"Damn!" I growled and released my next arrow and then another and another, in rapid succession, all at Night.
She moved fast flipping to the left behind Shade, who loosed off an arrow at Shadow, who in turn responded with her own arrow before raising a shield in front of her face and deflecting the arrow fired by Shade. Jackal released his arrow at Dusk, just as she released hers at him. He repeated Shadow's movement and raised his shield, deflecting the incoming arrow.
All of my arrows had missed Night, while one had hit Dusk, but failed to embed itself in her armour.
"They have body armour!" I called over the Comms. "Probably at least Type IIA."
We advanced on 'The Nightingales', as I had decided to call them, at least for now. The archers slung their bows and unsheathed their swords. The swords looked to be hefty, but fully functional and battle-ready. They were of a single handed design with a broad two-edged blade and a sharp point. These swords required a method of fighting, which was very different from my Katana swords. They also had a much longer reach than Jackal's ninja-to or Shadow's bō-staff.
"Shadow, Jackal, you will both need to keep moving and watch out for those swords, they have a longer reach than anything you have. Use your speed and agility!" I advised over the Comms. "You take care Kick-Ass!"
"Understood!" Jackal replied.
"I can do that!" Shadow responded.
..._...
I laid the compound bow down and unsheathed both of my Katana swords, before I advanced on Night, while Kick-Ass prepared his Ko-Wakizashi swords.
My twin blades clashed with her single blade. Night had strength and a couple of inches of height on me, plus more body mass. This could be an even fight; I wasn't complacent enough to assume that I could win every fight and definitely not against somebody completely new and unknown.
My first concern was that my Katana blades may not be able to stand up to the attacks, from the much heavier blade. So far, though, my blades were standing up very well. The main problem was that Night's sword was physically heavy, by design; unlike my twin swords. This extra weight could be used to help drive back an adversary, such as myself.
Beside me, Kick-Ass was using his own weight to overcome his light and short blades, he managed to drive his armoured fist and the hilt of the sword that it held, into the face of Shade.
Shade screamed and fell backwards. At that, Night yelled out in anger and Dusk struck out at Shadow, catching her across her mouth and Shadow fell backwards to the ground. Night called a single command, which I was unable to make out; they must have been using Comms. The three Nightingales jumped onto three, identical looking, black motorcycles that were fitted with dual purpose tyres. I instantly noticed that these were very powerful machines.
I ran for my Ducati, while Jackal helped Shadow up and then they and Kick-Ass ran for Beast.
"They're Yamaha Super Tenere World Crosser motorcycles. You guys don't have the acceleration, or the manoeuvrability. Hang back and track me!" I ordered.
"Hit Girl, I'll monitor traffic and send warnings to your visor!" Battle Guy reported.
The Nightingales accelerated away, out of the parking lot and headed south. I followed on the Ducati. We turned and crossed South Ashland Avenue and accelerated in an easterly direction, along West 71st Street. We weaved between the traffic, approaching sixty miles per hour. I had a vague idea where they might be heading.
My suspicions were confirmed as they slowed and made a hard left turn after crossing the Dan Ryan Expressway and took the on-ramp heading north. I followed, after negotiating the busy junction and accelerating down the on-ramp.
Dan Ryan Expressway
The three 'sisters' sped onto the Dan Ryan Expressway, northbound and rapidly accelerated to over eighty miles per hour, the three motorcycles weaved in and out of the, thankfully light, traffic. I kept my focus on the leader, whose motorcycle was more of a very dark grey, rather than black of the other two. None of the motorcycles bore a registration plate, or any obvious signs of external identification. I weaved in and out of the traffic about twenty yards behind. Battle Guy was constantly feeding me traffic information, concerning what was up ahead. So far there were no issues, so it was still relatively safe to ride at high speed. This was one of the main things, in life that I loved: speed! My machine and my skills were perfectly matched for this chase, which was, admittedly, my first. The adrenalin was pumping through my veins, just as the gas was pumping through the engine of my Ducati.
All four motorcycles were receiving angry horn blasts from concerned motorists; it wouldn't be long before CPD joined the pursuit.
"Pass me a doughnut."
"What type…? Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!" Fellowes exclaimed. "Four motorcycles going hell for leather and guess who was trailing in fourth?"
"Evil Knievel?" Murphy replied facetiously.
"Better: Hit Girl!"
"Cool; we saw nothing... Pass those doughnuts and quit pinching the best ones!"
Within minutes things started to get more dangerous, as motorists had a nasty habit of changing lanes without any form of signalling or other warning and this required split second responses and decision making. I had to make use of all the available lanes, including the shoulder, to avoid other vehicles and still keep the escaping Sisters of Trinity in sight. We touched one hundred and twelve miles per hour, but only for a minute, before we dropped back below the hundred.
I had no idea where the sisters were heading. They knew I was there, chasing them and I had plenty of gas, so I could chase them for a while. Kick-Ass and the others would be following me at a much safer pace, but what would I do if I did catch up to them? I was alone against three very formidable opponents. Yes they were running, but not because they were scared, but because they were calculating and knew when to call it a day!
For a short moment I lost sight of the three motorcycles and just when I had expected to regain contact... They were gone! I searched every lane ahead of me, but saw no motorcycles – not one!
"Fusion! I've lost them!" I called, dejectedly, decelerating to a much safer and much less conspicuous speed.
"How?" Kick-Ass replied.
"I lost sight of them for a few seconds and they never reappeared!" I replied angrily.
Later that evening
Safehouse A
I almost threw my helmet across the Safehouse, but quickly reminded myself that it cost almost a thousand bucks!
I placed the helmet in the rack and went to check on Chloe who was removing her helmet and mask. She had a livid bruise on her left jaw.
"That looks sore!" I commented and received a weak grin from Chloe.
"Just hurts when I move my mouth," Chloe said, slowly.
"That should give our ears a rest!" Marty commented.
"Yeah, and Josh will only be able to rely on your hand rather than your mouth!" Kim quipped.
Josh and Dave burst out laughing. I tried to restrain myself, as the look on Chloe's face was priceless, but in the end I gave in and even Chloe laughed, despite the pain.