“Just tell me already, and your suffering will end, and in a less permanent way than death. Tell me the location of Sonereal’s HQ, and you may still live. Tell me this location, and I wont hurt your family ever again.” Arya hissed out the sentence, extremely frustrated that this man would not yield to his interrogation. Using every technique he knew, new and old, banned and legal, effective and ineffective, he had attempted to get a location from this man for the past 3 days. By now SAonereal would know he was missing. If he was smart he would evacuate all essential information, and fortify the place. But then, sometimes Sonereal could be ignorant.
Nonetheless, if he didn’t get the Location tonight, then the chances of vengeance would drop. A lot. Black Ops were his specialty. So why couldn’t he crack this one mortal man?
“ I told you! Its on Sun street, number 263-“ The air was pierced by the dreadful sound of flesh on flesh, and another spout of blood emerged from the man’s cheek. Arya was getting very impatient. And people tend to die when he gets impatient.
“NOT HIS PARTY HQ! THE BASE HE USED TO LAUNCH THE ATTACK ON THE ASSASSIN’S GUILD!” For a moment there, his voice was no longer one of a bull or a snake, but rather raw and vicious.
In anger he brought a knife from his belt and stabbed the man in leg, withdrew the knife, and then slashed across his body bringing the blade into contact with the stomach of a lady close in age to the man’s 29 years, perhaps a little younger. His sister.
“Now are you willing to tell me the address, or shall I bring your other sister in as well? This one is already close to fainting. You care about her. Yet you do not help her by giving me the information I require. Just what are you scared of? Sonereal?” His voice back to its sinister form, although still with a touch of viciousness, seemed to make the man’s skin crawl, yet he still didn’t give.
“You wouldn’t understand. You’re a monster! You care nothing for this country, nor for its people, you just care for profit and pain! You would never understand my predicament!” The man, with his eyes wide in terror, suddenly broke through the bonds holding him to the chair, and swung at Arya. Long hair blinded him however, and Arya easily sidestepped the blow, responding by cleanly decking the man. The woman never stopped screaming. Thank god she was gagged. Standing over the man, Arya began to speak once again.
“I wouldn’t understand would I? You don’t think I understand the simple world of the people of this country? You don’t thing I care? YOUR WRONG! I care more than any other politician in this damned country! I understand more than you, or even care to know! You forget that once I was just a simple man like you, immortal yes, but still just a simple man. But *I* was the one that fought the dark lord, *I* was the one that dueled his most trusted servants and escaped, and *I* am the one that strives the hardest to defeat him! Do not talk to me about not understanding and caring. YOU are the one who understands nothing, and cares little for anything past that long nose of yours! I fought for three centuries against the dark Lord, and I have now strived for more years then you can count to help the people of America in the hope that they might help me in my quest against this single great evil! You don’t understand. Until the Dark Lord dies, we are all doomed to die. Even the Immortals. Now. Tell. Me. What. I want. To. KNOW!” As he snarled the last word he brought out a dagger from the collection of blades on his belt. This one however was dripping in a substance that smelled much like blood, but was of a greenish color. The man’s eyes bulged out more if possible at the sight of it, and he finally gave in.
“Okay, okay I will tell you! Just don’t put that thing anywhere near me!” Arya lowered the dagger, but didn’t put it away. “The division of the party that launched the attack on the guild has many bases, all of them involved in some sort of crime. I don’t know why Sonereal approves of it, but it seems like he is getting richer and richer. Most of the crime is targeted against the poor, and their main HQ is in the slums of Washington, District 5, in the docklands. Right on the edge of the oldest docks is an old organizational station where ships used to check in. Its now abandoned, but Sonereal uses the basement to base all of his major black ops in…now can you please let my family go?” He pleaded at the end. His eyes were filled with terror from the past 3 days, his lips cracked, his skin covered in his own blood to hide the paleness. Half his blood seemed to have soaked through his skin, out of his veins, and onto his skin.
Arya looked over at the other two people in the room, a man and a woman. The man, named Warren, was his second apprentice of the guild. The first had died at the hands of Sonereal himself. The woman was peculiar. In a country where most of the women had brown or black hair, this one had blonde, with a slim but solid body flexible, yet slightly muscular as well. Her name was Anna.
“You two got that?” When they nodded he said, “Then get the men and women ready. Tonight, we draw blood in revenge for the Guild Massacre. Tonight, Sonereal will feel pain like never before. Tonight, we avenge our many brothers and sisters who died that night. Tonight, all of Washington shall hear the screams of pain of our targets. This will not be a night of quiet contract work. This is a nightof violence, of fury, of BLOOD. Now go.”
Turning back to the man staring at him, not even trying to hide his emotions, Arya knocked him out by slamming his head against the concrete floor. He knocked the woman out less violently, injecting her with a chemical that will cause her to sleep for the next 7 hours. He regretted having to hurt her. It really tore him. Where would he draw the line? She was an innocent civilian. But her brother had been the key to locating Sonereal’s base for black ops. No matter. He would deal with the morality of this Op later. Right now, he needed to produce results.
*****
There stood three one story buildings at points around the abandoned docking station. Arya lay on top of one with seven men and two women. Anna and Warren lay on each of the others with three men and three women each. They were waiting for the signal to strike. Which in this case was a huge ball of fire smashing through the west wall of the target building. Arya had arranged for a catapult in the courtyard of the Militia building to light on fire one of its tar balls and fire it with pinpoint accuracy that only an immortal could perform. Then a group from the alleyway, led by another Immortal Mechaerik, would storm the front door, along with Arya, Warren, and their soldiers descending from the rooftops. Anna would stay above and fire arrows into the fray.
The night air was suddenly lit up as a ball of flame was hurled across the city, plunging right into its target. War cries filled the night as suddenly 16 men plunged through the gates, charging the door that led to vengeance. Some communists, some were libertarians, some were Guild member. Tonight, it did not matter. They were one.
Bright flares lit up the night as flaming arrows were fired into the whole made by the ball of flame. Soon, the fire started to spread and more screams could be heard in the night. These were no war cries though, these were cries or terror and pain.
Arya himself charged moments later, jumping down the ten feet of the building he lay flat on, followed by his 7 mean and 2 women. All were guild members, and all had lost a friend or loved one to Sonereal and his fellow murderers. All would fight to the death helping him to avenge those lives.
Five feet from the door, a group of 3 heavyset men appeared, dressed in full armor swinging longswords. The first man that rushed forward to meet them was sliced to pieces. Arya gave the signal and the two men right behind him spread out and circled two of the men, while Arya himself charged the one in the lead. The rest of group charged past, weaving through the 6 people engaged in combat, heading into the building to cause havoc.
Taking a spear from his pack, he lowered the point and thrust it into the stomach of the man driving it all the way through. Immediately afterwards, not even stopping half a second to let the man feel pain, he sidestepped and thrust a small sliver of a knife into the mans hip, circling him and slashing a dagger across his back. The man roared and pulled the spear free just in time to watch as Arya sword, Nitidm Interitus, to behead the monster of a man. The body and head parted ways, and both fell to the ground.
Looking around, Arya saw that his two friends had also decapitated their opponents and were waiting for him to continue. A slight of his hand told them to head in and go to the left. He would go to the right.
The hallway was dark as Arya slowly made his way in, taking care to make no sound as he moved, eyes searching for any trace of movement to betray an ambush or wary opponent. Yet, nothing moved even as he made his way to the end of the hall. He heard sounds of battle ring out as he followed the bend in the hallway to the left, towards the center of the building. An unearthly howl pierced the air, ringing out above the sounds of battle, and Arya quickened his pace to a full on sprint. The howl was from Warren. More howls followed as he neared, all from the same source. Finally, he turned the last corner and came face to face with the battle.
It was taking place in a room open to the elements, thanks to the earlier artillery. Around 40 yards wide in either direction with a large crater taking up the middle of it, the noise could have deafened a person who was not used to the sounds of battle. Swords clashed with shields, spears glanced off armor, arrows pierced throats and were followed by screams that would make you shiver. Skirmishes took place all around the room, but the real action took place in the center. Mech was surrounded, beset on all sides by 5 warriors, yet he still was managing to hold them off. A few feet away, Warren was on his knees, and Sonereal had a sword to his throat.
“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Arya let out a scream of rage that caused many to turn heads, which resulted in many being beheaded, on both sides. Following the scream of rage he jumped into the fray, hacking and slashing his way through the battle, felling everyone who dared try to stop him. His sword was ablur, his face although hidden beneath plates of thickset iron armor, almost certainly in a permanent snarl. He would NOT lose another apprentice to this man.
Yet his bullrush through the battle was not enough. It might have turned the tide in the Guild’s favor, but he was still 10 feet away when the head of his apprentice went flying straight towards him. Sonereal gave him a bloody grin.
“Man do I have good aim!” Were his words just before the head landed in front of Arya. With a roar, Arya jumped the last ten feet and began a flurry of blows against Sonereal, whose face lit up in surprise and was nearly too slow to parry Arya’s first attack. Drawing a second sword from his belt to match his long sword, Sonereal attempted to go on the offensive, but Arya merely dipped inside of his guard and gave him a gash along his forearm. Sonereal was forced to drop the second sword at once and continued the fight with a single arm in fighting condition. Still, he was a formidable opponent. All Immortals are.
Finally, through a particularly vicious overhand blow, Arya actually managed to slice through Sonereal’s sword near its middle, the thickest part of the blade. The two pieces of his former sword fell to the ground as Sonereal backed away. The battle was just about over now. The last few remaining men from the base were tired and failing. One by one they were felled by members of the Guild. One by one, Sonereals chances of survival became slimmer. One by one souls passed into the void, hopefully to hell rather than heaven for the evil deeds they had committed in their lives.
“Arya…you know what happened last time you killed an Immortal. You were condemned. You were hated. You were distrusted. Do you want to go through that again?” His voice was strangely steady. There was even a slight taunt in his voice. Yet Arya stopped dead in his advance as a rush of Images from his memory flooded his brain. The immortal he had killed standing in front of him, yelling at him. Another of him as his own blade was being pushed through his chest. Another when he was but a bloody lump on the floor. Another of his victim years before the incident, when they were best friends. When the Immortal he had killed had been his brother by blood.
His body started to shake and one knee crumpled so he was in a kneeling position. But then a roar sounded, and for once it was not from Arya. Mech had run up from behind, and was stepping on Arya’s shoulder, using it as a point from which he could propel himself into the air. Flying through the air with every eye upon him, even Arya’s, he used the spear in his hand to throw into Sonereal’s shoulder. Sonereal then let out a scream of pain and disappeared into the darkness. Mech then turned back and faced Arya, his face filled with concern. Seconds later, Arya fainted.
*****
A few hours later Arya was walking again after his fit of fainting. The door he walked through was the secret residence of Guildmaster Ravus, and was one he was dreading. 17 out of 40 of his (wo)men had died in the battle, which had been unauthorized by Ravus. He had had no prior knowledge of the operation. And now he was going to have to face the consequences. Luckily, they had managed to kill every single one of the 127 people at the base, except fro Sonereal who was suspected as being gravely wounded.
“Lord Guildmaster Ravus I-“
“Be quiet you insolent impulsive bastard. You no more deserve to speak than live right now. Do you know how much influence your little attack has caused me? Now everyone is blaming me for a terrorist attack on their capital. I am wanted throughout the country. Somehow, they have overlooked you.” Every word was filled with the venom that only ravus himself could inject into words.
“Fine. I don’t care what I have brought down upon you. I quit the guild. I have had enough of this business killing. I cant justify it morally anymore, nor monetarily as we have had few big money contracts in the past months. I am leaving, as of now. Let’s see how you fare without your best man. Oh, and my kidnapping division, along with everyone else loyal to me, is coming with me. We are going to set up a true army unit, loyal only to America. Unless America is attacked, this unit doesn’t even technically exist. Yet it will be the most advanced, most well trained unit in the country, led by me, and loyal only to the current president for defensive purposes only. Its only offensive purpose will to help me defeat the Dark Lord when that time comes.” And with that he left the residence of ravus, slamming the door, all the while hearing quiet curses from within the room…