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Fate,
clad in her usual slim black power armor walked out of the Giza with a
request from Jimmy Sonata, before a not-so-random casino goer approached
her with a slip of paper. She accepted it and waited silently for the
man to leave before going outside and leaping to the top balcony of the
pyramid to read the message in privacy. Within ten minutes, she’d read
through it twice, making sure she missed no details, then pulled a small
zippo from a compartment at her hip. A quick flick of the lighter set
the note on fire, letting the ash fly away on the breeze.
So
this ‘Swift Cut’ had finally decided to be up front with what she
wanted. The woman had been pinging all of Fate’s contacts for almost a
week, but never directly got in touch with the Scimitar herself. Until
now. It seemed that Swift Cut had been an assassin in the Whispered
Hand, a little-known band of killers, and wanted out. Furthermore, she
was willing to pay hard cash for someone to get her into Faultline and
PPD custody. Why a trained assassin needed hired help for what was
effectively as easy as crossing the street was a question the note
hadn’t answered, but everyone had their own reasons behind what they
did.
And
truthfully, the job and the pay didn’t really matter to Fate. The last
time she had been in Paragon City was when she saw the girl, Nanoha. And
since then, she hadn’t been able to get the girl’s face out of her
head. There were better chances of finding a needle in a haystack than
finding her again. But at least she could get back into Paragon City,
and on her own this time. The other Scimitars were the closest thing she
had to family, but sorting out why she kept thinking of the little
silver armored Sabre would be difficult enough without dealing with
their annoyingly accurate teasing.
The
client was waiting in Sharkhead, near the sewers that would take them
into Faultline. If the Whispered Hand knew she was there, it would be
troublesome. Both for Fate’s potential paycheck, and because Swift Cut
was currently her only “in” to get into Paragon on business. As long as
she was alive, the PPD would tolerate Fate’s presence as her bodyguard.
So it remained to Fate to keep the woman so. In the golden flash of the
Ouroborous portal, Fate disappeared.
A
few minutes later, she was at the grate that lead down into the sewers.
Muffled voices, including her client’s, suggested that the Whispered
Hand had beaten her here. Dropping into the murky water without
preamble, Fate leaped at the two Tsoo that were harassing an Asian woman
in a simple red dress. Her dual sabers lit up brightly in the dim
light, leaving the two ink men senseless on the floor in seconds, the
gangsters having hardly had time to realize she was there. She looked at
Swift Cut, her expression hidden behind the golden visor. “You know
it’ll be extra for the rescue, right?”
Swift
Cut sighed in irritation, but nodded her assent. “All right. I just
want to get out of here in one piece. I knew what I was getting into,
but the people I killed... I can’t sleep anymore because of the blood I
see on my hands every time I close my eyes. I see their faces and hear
their cries all-”
“Hey.”
The swordswoman interrupted her, an irritated note in her voice. “Price
is going to go up more if I have to listen to your life history. Let’s
get moving before your ex-buddies send more Tsoo after us.”
The
woman came up a bit short at having the flashback interrupted, but
nodded, following Fate as she walked further into the sewers. Fate kept
alert for the sound of Tsoo ink men coming up on them, disposing of a
few more sets of them before they came into a large room where a man not
wearing the standard cut of Tsoo robes was waiting for them. Swift Cut
stayed behind her, but whispered a warning. “Careful, he’s another
assassin.”
“I
never would have guessed.” Fate said dryly as she walked up to the
Whispered Hand assassin, keeping her energy sabers up in a guard
position.
“We
have nothing against you, Zanbar Scimitar. Silent Blade only wants
Swift Cut back.” Despite wearing his own mask, the man’s eyes were
visible as they focused on the woman in red. “She wants you and the item
you’re carrying.”
“Never!” Swift Cut spat back.
Fate
briefly wondered about this ‘item’ he mentioned, before putting that
out of her mind and taking a threatening step towards him. “You heard
the lady, no deal. Get out of our way, or I’m taking you down.”
“I’m
afraid you leave me no choice.” Fate felt the Herald’s mind weigh down
on her own, a psionic attack that would have quickly disabled many a
lesser fighter. In her case, however, it lasted for a split second
before bouncing off her own mental defenses like a faint gust of wind.
The man’s eyes widened behind his mask for the few seconds he had before
Fate lifted her swords up and casually showed him the error of his
ways.
Three
more assassins proved about as easy to dispatch on their way through
the sewers before they reached the gates to Faultline. Fate held them
open as Swift Cut climbed through, before sighing as she sighted yet
another Whispered Hand assassin waiting for them on the other side.
“Another of you? Your boss is either stubborn, stupid, or both.”
The
man with the large hat instead looked at Swift Cut and spoke to her
directly. “Your sister only wants you and the item you carry back.”
“Sister?” Fate asked the woman without looking away from the enemy, hearing a sigh in response.
“What ‘big sister’ would turn their ‘little sister’ into a trained killer? No, she’s no sister of mine!”
“She
won’t be happy to hear that.” The Crescent pointed out, before he
leaped forward, only to be intercepted by Fate’s swords. It took her
almost a full minute to disable the man, after which she used her sword
to cut a swatch of cloth off his pants. Walking over to the water’s
edge, Fate leaned down and dipped the cloth into the water, cleaning off
her boots as Swift Cut followed her example, washing the sewer gunk off
of her own shoes and legs in the clean water.
“You
never mentioned you were pulling me into the middle of a family
conflict.” Fate said. There was no immediate response, so Fate continued
her cleaning until the other woman finally spoke up.
“The
leader of the Whispered Hand, Silent Blade, is my sister. She taught me
everything I know, but I never was able to handle the actual killing
and deaths. The last time, she sent me after a woman with a two year old
child. I couldn’t do it, and told her as much. I left that day and
contacted the PPD for asylum.”
“Hmm.”
Fate summarized eloquently, refraining from further comment. She was
paid to protect this woman, not listen to her entire life story. And if
that was all there was to this family business, it was unlikely to alter
the job at hand. Deciding her boots were as clean as they were going to
get for now, Fate threw the dirty cloth back onto the unconscious
Crescent and began walking up a ramp. “Lets move. The sub from the PPD
will be here soon, and I don’t want to be here when they arrive. They
might get too curious for my tastes.”
Swift
Cut quickly put her shoes back on and followed the woman in the armor
until they got to a barge that was parked on the water. There was a
transponder standing on the edge of the floating platform, but between
them and it stood a woman with a silver katana and gray outfit. Swift
Cut gasped. “No..not here...”
Silent
Blade stepped forward, lethal intent in her every movement, far more
than her previous hirelings. “I’ll say this one last time, Zanbar
Scimitar. Leave. This business doesn’t involve you. The item she carries
is pure evil, and terrible misfortune will happen if she leaves with
it.”
Fate merely shrugged, the display doing nothing to intimidate her. “Her bank account makes it my business.”
The
leader shook her head, almost sadly. “That is unfortunate, then. We
will have to settle this the hard way.” Quicksilver light flickered off
her blade from the moonlight filtering down from above before the two
clashed, sparks of light flickering off where Fate’s energy blades
clashed against the resistant alloy of Silent Blade’s katana. However,
as fast as the assassin was, Fate had more raw power, and began to press
her advantage.
Sensing
the disadvantage, Silent Blade switched tactics, attempting to rattle
the armored Scimitar. “I’m going to make you regret taking this job,
Zanbar Scimitar! You should have left when you had the chance. Now
everyone you ever cared about will die on my order, and you yourself
will beg me to finish it quickly before I’m done.”
Sky
blue eyes above silver armor flashed through Fate’s mind at those
words, followed by the images of a dozen casual scenes sitting around
the Lair. And of the fact that Silent Blade was threatening them over
nothing more than some stupid family feud. Silent Blade had a half
second to see the Scimitar blur into motion before an armored elbow to
her solar plexus robbed her of breath and staggered her. A second later,
an armored gauntlet wrapped around her throat, lifting her a foot and a
half in the air with casual effort and leaving the assassin gasping for
breath, suddenly aware of how easily that armor could end it with a
simple squeeze. Where had that speed come from?
Leaning
in close, the Scimitar’s visor faded into transparency until the other
woman could see the red eyes within snapping with fury. Silent Cut cried
out for Fate to stop, but the blonde didn’t even hear her.
“This
was just business. I don’t have any interest in your family problems,
or that item. I’m just here to do my job. But if you bring the people I
care about into this, I will find you. And when I do, it won’t be me who is begging to have it over quickly. Do you understand?”
Silent
Blade glared back at her before disappearing in a cloud of gray mist.
Behind them, a group of ink men ran down the ramp onto the barge.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Fate cut them down, blood hissing into
steam off the ionized field around her energy blades or splattering
darkly on the black armor she wore, too angry to bother with the
attention needed to disable them non-lethally. Swift Cut hung back and
watched the Scimitar work, shivering at the ruthless change in the
woman.
Silent
Blade used the distraction to attempt to attack Fate again, but the
ambush smashed headlong into Fate’s mounting anger like a wall. The two
of them clashed blades with breathtaking fury for almost five minutes,
but while Silent Blade was tiring, Fate was hitting harder with every
strike. As Fate was about to make the swing that would kill the woman,
her sister jumped up and grabbed her arm. “Stop it! I don’t want her
dead!”
Only
very well-honed skill prevented the blade from slicing through Swift
Cut as Fate threw the woman back on the ground, stepping to the side so
she could see both sisters. “I may be angry with her, but I don’t want
her to die. She’s my sister. I just want to leave and not be expected to
kill people myself,” the younger woman said, staring back at Fate
defiantly despite the fact that the Scimitar could clearly kill her
without even trying.
Silent
Blade looked up from where she was on the ground, spitting out a
mouthful of blood from where one of Fate’s punches had split her lip.
“Fine. Leave. Give me the item, then go and never return.”
In
the water, the top of a submarine appeared, a man in a red and white
outfit opening the top hatch and looking out. Fate glared at him, simply
daring him to come closer so she could deal with him too. He didn’t
take the hint, instead simply waving at Swift Cut for her to come. She
nodded back at the Freedom Corp soldier, hesitating for a moment before
she pulled out a small statue and set it in front of the prone woman .
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to see this. To have to deal with it. But
if you insist, you can have it.” Without another word or backwards
glance, Swift Cut walked over to the sub and entered it, the soldier
sealing it behind them before the vessel vanished beneath the waves
again.
Fate
looked down at Silent Blade who was staring at the statue and had
opened a sealed compartment on the bottom. Inside was a sheet of paper
which she took out and read. In moments, the woman was as pale as the
paper she was holding. “No... Father...” A sob escaped and she didn’t
even seem to notice anyone else was there. Killing her now would be
child’s play, but looking down at the broken woman changed her mind.
Fate didn’t feel the need to kill her. She just felt tired. And bloody.
Reddish brown stains from the Ink Men from earlier still dotted her
hands and armor. And beyond it, sky blue eyes flitted across her mind
again, their intensity more burning than before.
Fate
left the assassin behind, walking away to find a place where she could
change out of her armor and into her street clothes. There would be
plenty of spots down here in the docks to find a hiding place for the
armor. A half hour later, a woman dressed in leather with long blond
hair and blood red eyes walked up the road that would eventually take
her to Skyway City. The path before her would take her into the city
she’d only visited once before, but where the girl whose eyes were
seared into her mind was. Where Fate felt herself being pulled towards
even now.
She’d find out why. Somehow.
***
Nanoha
stirred in her bed, blinking as she looked over at the moon hovering
behind a sheer silver sheen of clouds. Below it, the urban sprawl of
Steel Canyon stretched out, still filled with never sleeping activity.
Nanoha ignored the view for the most part as she reached out to finger a
piece of matte black armor, edges no longer the red hot they’d been
when they’d been blasted free of that girl...Fate’s... armor. Crimson
eyes, firm yet lonely, danced in her mind. It was why she’d been
training so hard. To get to the point where she could see her again.
Which meant being strong enough to go to the Rogue Isles.
So why did she feel like something was coming sooner than that?
**Thanks to OpMegs for taking my original outline and turning it into a real story.**
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