by Kirk Twyman
“We’re engaging the Black Assassin,” I said. “We’re outmatched.”
“You’re taking on the Black Assassin? The fuck, man! You were supposed to be in and out. Of course, you’re outmatched!”
“Things didn’t go according to plan,” I said. That was an understatement. The worst part was, this was all my fault. If we had left when we saw the bodies, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Gary said. “For now, stay put while I see if I can pull you out of this mess.”
The next warehouse wasn’t as exciting as Zero Temp’s state-of-the-art facility. Instead, it was four drab walls containing medical tables, gurneys, and a variety of other supplies. As boring as it was, it made the perfect place to hide. We simply slid under one of the tables. It gave me a chance to set Regina down and check her injuries while Elijah watched the door.
“How is she?” Elijah asked. I was glad I’d been paying in first aid class.
“She’s okay,” I said. “No broken bones or internal injuries. She’s just unconscious.”
Just unconscious. How much more wrong could this mission go?
I received my answer when the door opened to reveal Black Assassin. It didn’t look like the Fire Capsule had done the least bit of damage to him. He scoured the room for us. Whenever he came to a gurney, he would raise his sword and dramatically impale it, ensuring each sword cut down to the ground. He repeated this process methodically. Sooner or later, his sword would return to his hand with our blood.
“Don’t worrv,” Elijah said. “I got just the thing.”
Before I could stop him, he chucked three whole fire capsules directly at the Black Assassin. This time the Assassin leapt out of the way, but it made little difference. The combination of the multiple fire capsules combined with the chemicals in the warehouse caused the whole place to explode like a tinderbox. I glared at Elijah.
“How was I to know it was flammable?” he shrugged.
With no other option, I hoisted Regina onto my back, and we headed out the nearby window. Fortunately, there was a fire escape that lead to the second story of the warehouse. On the plus side, this would make it really easy for Gary to find us.
We opened the second story window and entered the rest of the warehouse. We could feel the heat from the fire downstairs as it cast an orange glow on the darkened contents. The smell of smoke slowly entered our lungs, making us gag and cough.
Seconds later, Black Assassin burst through the ceiling and started to give chase all over again. Elijah could only stare with a mix of frustration, confusion, and anger.
“The fuck, man? What is this guy, the Terminator?” he asked.
“He’s worse than the Terminator,” I said as I ran as best I could, even with Regina sloped over my shoulder. “He’s real.”
It was a no-win scenario for us. Between the unconscious Regina and my wounded shoulder, we weren’t getting out of here alive. At least not together.
“Eli,” I said. “Take Regina and go. I’ll hold him off as long as I can.”
“What you’ll do is go fuck yourself!” Elijah said defiantly. “Either we all make it out—or we don’t.”
I nodded. At least this time we could be prepared. I set Regina down and we both gathered what weapons we could. I had a particularly fearsome looking two-by-four with a rusty nail sticking out, while Elijah had a crowbar.
“Admit it, we look kind of badass right now?” Elijah said.
“Yeah,” I agreed, equally pumped that this just might work.
In the distance, I law the lumbering form of the Black Assassin. I stood up and made sure I was directly into Black Assassin’s line of sight.
“Hey asshole!” I gritted my teeth as I removed the throwing knife from my shoulder. “You dropped this!”
With all my strength, I thrust the throwing knife directly at the Black Assassin’s faceplate. He deftly caught it with his right hand. When this happened, Elijah sprung to life, bringing to the crowbar down onto his hand. The Black Assassin let out a gasp of pain – the first one he had produced all night – and dropped his sword.
We had just disarmed the Black Assassin.
It was short-lived. Elijah had barely a chance to smile before the Black Assassin delivered a spinning round house kick that sent my cousin toppling to the ground. The attack had given me an opening however, as it left Black Assassin with his back turned towards me.
I dashed across the hot wooden floor with my two-by-four in hand. I raised the big wooden plank, concentrating as I prepared to drive the nail at the end of it into the armored assassin’s head.
“Hope you’re caught up on your tetanus shots, bitch!” I said.
With one graceful movement, the Black Assassin spun around, using his position to create enough momentum to cleave my two-by-four in half with his hand alone. I looked at the splintered piece of wood in my hand with a mixture of realization and disappointment.
“Oh,” I said, painfully aware of what was coming next.
The Black Assassin grabbed me by the neck and crushed me down the floor. My body hit the wooden ground with a loud thump. This was it. Regina was still unconscious a couple inches to my left. Elijah was down for the count.
And now Black Assassin was going to kill me, and then my friends.
But I wasn’t going down without a fight.
I reached for my own sword. My father had been killed by the blade of the Red Assassin. I wasn’t about to be killed by another Assassin, no matter what color his armor was. I reached for the blade I had taken off the Red Assassin. I had kept it tucked along my back. Using my one bad arm, I grunted with pain as I grabbed the sword, gritting on pain as I did so.
“Fuck you, you Kill Bill Wannabe!” I said as I brought down the blade up into the Black Assassin’s midsection. He jumped back, but it wasn’t enough. My blow had taken first blood. He looked down at me and regarded the sword with amusement.
“That is not yours, little one,” he said. I looked up to see the wound I had just dealt suddenly close up and heal.
“H-how did you do that?” I stammered.
“Unfortunately for you, little one, class is over,” the Black Assassin said as he raised his foot to crush me.
Just as I thought all was lost, I heard a sickening thud coming from the Black Assassin’s head? I watched in awe as the Assassin stumbled back in a daze. Behind him a small masked figure dressed from head to toe in black held an iron cudgel. The figure delivered another blow, but this time the Black Assassin dodged the attack.
“Another one?” Black Assassin. “It matters not in the end.”
The small figure stepped forward, crouching to receive the Black Assassin’s next blow. I was prepared to watch this mysterious rescuer die at the Black Assassin’s hands. After all, they were so little, but I was amazed by what happened next.
The iron cudgel shot to the Black Assassin’s midsection. In response the Assassin brought down his massive blade, but the figure effortlessly dodged the attack, laying another blow on the side of the Assassin’s head. The Assassin recovered and used a spinning attack – more powerful than the one he had used on Elijah – but the figure merely ducked this kick and laid another block, this time on the Assassin’s side.
It was clear the Black Assassin was tiring quickly. He thrust his blade towards the figure, who dodged it yet again. The figure dodged the first blow, but the Black Assassin launched another hundred in his wake. The sword flashed so quickly I couldn’t keep up with moves. The figure used the iron cudgel to ward off each and every blow. It was clear the Black Assassin was losing both patience and energy. After his barrage of slashes failed, the Black Assassin took one step forward, pivoted and tossed his knife – the very one lodged in my shoulder – at the mysterious figure. Unphased, the figure simply caught the knife and tossed it back.
It landed squarely in the Black Assassin’s chest-plate, in the one spot exposed by the figure’s constant beating.
“It doesn�
�t feel…so…good now…does it?” I said, or I would have if I wasn’t hurting too bad. It was then that I realized I had lost a lot of blood, and I was pretty sure the Black Assassin’s attack had broken a couple of ribs.
The Black Assassin dropped to one knee. The figure pressed his or her attack, kicking and hitting at the Assassin in his kneeling position. Some of the blows he deflected, some but not all.
The smaller figure landed one more blow to the Black Assassin’s head. His armor shot back, as if he’d been given a charge from a defibrillator. The Black Assassin wavered for the briefest of seconds, and then fell to the ground in a metallic clank. Our pursuer was finally down, but who or what had brought him down. Were they a friend or a foe?
I couldn’t tell. I didn’t have time to ask since I blacked out a minute later.
Truth in Dreams
The Black Assassin’s knife shot towards me, but I dodged it effortlessly twisted my body around as I took the fight to him a second later. Or at least, that’s what should have happened. I knew this was a dream – more of an instant replay – before I woke up. Honestly, I had lost of lot of blood, so I wasn’t sure if that was going to happen.
The Assassin charged at me, sword flashing. I dodged the first blow and laid a punch straight across his visor. I wondered to myself what lay behind that monster. Was it another unfeeling super monster, like Orra? My blow stunned him for a moment, but then he turned to me, my attack doing little to faze him. He brought his massive sword down upon me, and thankfully, I woke up before it hit.
This didn’t stop my whole body from screaming as my eyes flashed open. I felt hands fall upon me, and I thrashed hard against my perceived captors until I saw Frank standing over me. It was one of the only times I had ever seen Frank without a coat. He was wearing a button-up shirt with his sleeves rolled up.
Even all these years later, I still wake up, expecting my father to be there, telling me it was all a bad dream. Maybe it was fitting that Frank, my new father, was there instead. He was the stern, silent type, but he’d rescued all of us from the supers. I guess this technically made Gary our “mom, a thought that brought a momentary chuckle to me at this very inappropriate time.
“Something funny?” Frank said, locking eyes with me. “You almost died out there.”
“Sorry,” I quickly with a gulp.
Before, all of us were afraid the supers would come again. After all, if they could get our parents, what chance did we have? This was before Frank taught about the supers. Now we know all about them. We knew what stances they used, how they held their hands when they launched an energy blast and how long it took them to change forms. Frank had made what seemed alien and unfathomable into a known quantity. No longer were the supers the boogieman in our closet or beneath our bed. Now they were simply an obstacle we had to remove.
And it was all because of Frank.
The Watcher’s face softened when he observed me recovering in the bed. “I’m sorry for snapping. All of us were really worried about you.”
“Is Regina-?” I started to ask.
“She’s fine. So is Elijah. Everyone’s fine. Lucky,” he said, with a wary eye on me. “But okay.”
I nodded in relief. I had jeopardized my team to bring back this intelligence on Orra and Black Assassin, but was it worth it? Did it change anything. How much did Frank and the rest know about this facility before they sent us there? It was tough to know. The only thing I knew for sure was that I trusted Frank.
It was then that I realized I wasn’t alone. The hooded figure that saved me stood at the foot of my bed. Whatever was behind the hood regarded me for a second. Even now, after they had saved my life, I wasn’t sure what to make of the figure. For what it’s worth, I don’t think they knew what to make of me. When I blinked, the space which had once held the figure was completely empty. Whoever they were, they had completely vanished.
“Ummm…thanks,” I said to the now empty space. I looked at Frank. “Just who was that?”
“It’s not important,” Frank told me. He then sighed and sat down beside my bed. He suddenly looked years older.
“I’m sorry, Robert. We didn’t know Black Assassin was going to be there,” he said. “Had we known, we would have equipped you better for getting out of there.”
His apology meant a lot. He didn’t have to say sorry. After all, he was the one who always told us no plan survived contact with the enemy.
“Frank, I’m memorized every super in our database,” I said. “I’ve never heard of a Black Assassin. What does he have to do with the Red Assassin?”
Frank starred at his feet from the chair and then returned his gaze to me. “The Black Assassin is a ghost, and you can’t fight a ghost. Remember your training. If you lack intel, get out and get one. It’s risky business underestimating a super.”
I nodded. I had learned this lesson the hard way. My whole body ached, from my shoulder all the way down to my midsection. Then again, I did manage to stab the Black Assassin. That was more than anyone else could say.
“He bled a lot for a ghost,” I managed to say with as much confidence as my wrecked body would allow.
Frank chuckled at this remark. “Yeah, and it probably popped right out, good as new, huh?”
My eyes widened. When I had stabbed the Black Assassin, his wound had instantly healed. How did Frank know about that?
“You fought him before,” I said, more of a realization than a statement. Frank stood up and walked to the window. He was quiet for a long time before heading back to my bed.
“Red Assassin took everything from you, but the Black Assassin took almost everything from me,” he said. “And no, I don’t know how they are related.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“The same thing that happened to you. They came for us,” he said. “My father was like you, a scout. He was trained to evade, not engage. But when the Assassin found Gary hiding in the attic, my father had no choice. He had to engage. By the time I came home, he was already dead.”
“And the Black Assassin got away?” I asked.
“Not quite. The Black Assassin may have had that damn suit on his side, but I had rage, adrenaline, and a set of power gloves,” Frank said. “We threw down that night, and I was sure only one of us were walking away.”
“What went wrong?” I asked, thinking I knew the outcome. I was wrong.
“I actually captured the son of a bitch,” Frank explained.
This was not where I had expected the story to go. After all, if I Frank had captured the Black Assassin, why had nearly killed me and my team? And even if the Black Assassin was able to escape, surely Frank would have been able to learn something about him.
“Did you interrogate him?” I asked. Frank shook his head.
“I was young and angry. I didn’t want answers. I wanted blood,” Frank said. “And I definitely got it.”
I considered Frank’s position. I thought about all the things I would do to the Red Assassin if he sat across from me instead of Frank, tied to a chair and at my mercy. My skin crawled at the things I came up with in the span of a minute.
“So, why didn’t you kill him?” I asked.
“I tried. You have no idea how much I tried. Electrocution. Power tools. I even hit him with a gallon of gasoline followed by napalm,” Frank said. “No matter what I tried, that suit of his wouldn’t let me kill him. Oh sure, sometimes I got close, but the healing factor always kicked in before I could finish the job.”
Frank continued. “I tried disconnecting the suit, but I couldn’t find a way. The technology in that suit’s…far beyond anything that I’ve seen. And I work with Orion.”
Well, I didn’t feel so bad about the ass-kicking Black Assassin had given me. The suit didn’t just provide him protection – it also apparently granted a healing factor, meaning any blow that slipped through his armor was instantly healed. The guy sounded virtually unbeatable.
“So how did he escape?” I asked. Frank looked awa
y.
“He didn’t. I actually let him go,” Frank said.
“You…what?” I said, incredulous. Frank had his father’s killer at his mercy. Sure, the suit prevented him from taking his revenge, but he still had him. He could have probably covered the bastard in cement and left him at the bottom of a lake if he wanted.
But instead he just let him go.
“Why?” I demanded. I realized I was actually angry, and I knew why. I wanted to believe that someday, somehow, I would get the same chance to take the same revenge against Red Assassin. To hear that my mentor just…let this chance go was perplexing beyond belief. I actually couldn’t believe he had done such a thing.
“We didn’t talk much. Not at first. I was too filled with rage. But after a while, the rage subsided, and I became more curious. We began to talk,” he said.
“You…talked to…it?” I said. At this point, I wasn’t sure there was anything inside Black Assassin. Or Red Assassin for that matter. I wanted to desperately believe they were robots, or perhaps more accurately, cyborgs. There was nothing remotely human within their dense metallic shells. I wanted to believe they were just color-coded killing machines, and nothing more. And I couldn’t believe anyone – let alone Frank – could just talk with it.
“No, I spoke with him,” Frank said. “I started to get to know him.”
“Oh yeah,” I said bitterly. “Did you and he go out for drinks? Catch a game? Because you had so much in common.”
“Yes, we did actually,” Frank said. “I mean, having a lot in common. Not the beer and game stuff.”
“How…how could you do that? After everything he did …to your father?” I asked, still incredulous.
“Because I started to realize that all that anger I was holding inside…it wasn’t getting me anywhere,” Frank explained. “So, one day I removed the mask, and then I met an Asian man just like me. The son of a murdered father. An orphan like me, named Izuki.”
“And you just…let him go,” I said, looking away from Frank. I couldn’t look at him anymore. All the things he had told me about remembering how my parents’ loss felt, all of it was a lie that had landed me in a hospital bed. “You forgave him. Just like I’m supposed to do. Because it’s the right thing to do.”