Section 7: Fall of the Falcon Shadow Agency

Section 6: Fall of the Falcon Shadow Agency

Part 1

The ride wasn’t too long. The jet was fast and shortened the gap between the HQ and their target quickly. Damien sat in the rear of the large craft with an odd twenty more people. He’d been separated from hawk and Sylvana who were in Jets of their own under order, like Damien, to take command of the troops with them.

A red light flicked on above his head. “We’re above our target now. Opening bay doors.”

Damien tightened the straps on his parachute and braced himself as the bay doors opened up and the air inside began violent. Outside the city below resembled a little like the sky with it’s many lights from cars and buildings.

He had not been informed of where they were going, just what they had to do, but until now his fears had not been confirmed. He recognised the city below almost instantly as New Gettingsburg. Which meant they were assaulting the FSA’s own HQ, which meant coming across, once again, with Lia.

The aircraft seemed to circle for a brief moment, then a red spark flashed off on top of the building. Hawk had made his way down and secured the roof. Now they knew what building to land upon they could jump.

All three groups jumped out in sequence, one after the other, pairs of three falling momentarily before slowing their decent and gliding the rest of the way down to solid surface below them. Damien has gone last, pairing up with Sylvana half way down and landing almost perfect near the entrance to the building.

“Do you think there’ll be much resistance?” She asked.

“They aren’t ready for us, so even if there is much resistance, it won’t matter. We have the element of surprise on our backs.”

Hawk walked over to them, his face barely visable in the shadows. “The security system has been ‘tweaked’ and their camera’s are on a loop. We can sneak in safely now and start the show. Backup will fall in shortly. There’s three entrances. Sylvana, head straight East, and you’ll come to a fake skylight. There’s a console there that you can use to activate the elevator. There’s a fallen guard we caught there you can use for Finger Print and Retinal Scan. Key Word is Alpha-Omega-Four-Seven-Foxtrot. That’ll be the same for you, Nightwolf. You’ll head North with Sylvana, half way and the go to the other side. There’ll be a ladder and stairwell you can use to reach the alleyway below. The password is the same, and there’ll be a routine inspection that’ll appear inside. Wait till twenty-two-hundred to enter. We’ll be in and providing a distraction by then for you to make your way in. That’s in five minutes by my watch. Sync them on my mark to eleven-fifty-five and move out… right… Mark!”

 

* * *

            There was little to do within the FSA’s walls. Lia had been taken back against her will to the Head Quarters where she was supposedly to be kept safe. Jason and Leon had gone with her, alone with the majority of the agents. It seemed they no longer could jeopardise the lesser ranked members from being killed, especially after the previous battle.

The mission had proved a failure to say the least with the only thing being successful the downfall of The Three. But they had worked out from there that it was no more than the tip of the iceberg. They’d found documents which recorded information about a mysterious group who called themselves the “Black Clads” and donned the symbol of a black shield with a silver gauntlet forming a fist upright and a blue lightning bolt through it on a sharp angle.

There was concern among her peers as to how to deal with the “Black Clad” and whatever troubles they intended to cause. Along with that was the still unknown whereabouts of Luis Le’ Chafe and now along with him the location of his father who mysterious vanished not long after the incident with the machine.

Many things troubled her mind. For one, the still remained disappearance of Luis whom she blamed herself for, especially after she’d promised not to allow anything to happen to him, especially after the loss of the one man Luis seemed to be able to look up to.

Then there was the mystery of how she’d survived the incident regarding the war machine that was destroyed from the inside out. Last she could remember kneeling down, a grenade in hand, then she hit something hard and the next she knew she’d woken up strapped down to a stretcher in a helicopter on its way back toe FSA HQ.  And apparently it was her who had destroyed it. Yet how it had been possible to do so and still get out alive didn’t make sense.

She sat up, wincing slightly as a quick pain jabbed into her side. The doctor nearby at his desk watched her stand up from her bed and close the curtains around her to get changed into fresh clothes. A few hours ago they’d protested on her going anywhere, but after she showed outstanding stubbornness they’d given up and left her with a mere warning to take it easy. She was free to move about the HQ, but not allowed to leave.

Without warning a loud thump sounded throughout the building. Lights flickered as things trembled and dust fell from the roof above. Lia, shirt half off her head, fell backwards into her bed, cursing as she did.

Another tremble made its way through the structure as Lia cursed under her breath some more and quickly ripped off the shirt, kicked off her pants and ran for her locker.

Inside she took out some clean jeans, a tank top, a 9mm with one extra clip, and her sword. Then, as fast as possible without falling over again from the continued trembles and loud bangs, which drew closer and closer, she got dressed, belted her sheath to her waist and fled.

A nurse sprinted past, almost bawling Lia over as she exited her room, screaming in terror. Lia checked from where she’d run and spotted two men, guns blazing. Lia grabbed a trolley and booted it towards the men who, started, barely dodged out of the way. By the time they’d regained themselves a blade was gliding cleanly through their necks.

Darting past the cascading men, Lia rounded a corner and found several more men, ducking behind desks to open fire at those who were pinned down while trying to escape or hold off the attackers. She opened fire, her arm keeping steady as she brought down three men and wounded two.

A door opened next t her and a white-faced man fell through. A blade stuck in him. Lia skidded to a halt and jumped back, pulling the trigger again as soon as the assailant stepped around. But instead of bullets, she was greeted by a clicking sound. It was too late to reload as a man wearing a costume, similar to the Ninja Lia had battled before, but slightly taller, body more muscular, and scar across the right eye and hair tied into a short tail.

He kicked the man on the end of the sword off and threw a pellet at the ground. Acting fast, Lia darted back the other way, trying to reload her weapon as fast as possible, but as a small throwing knife glided by, her hand was hit and the gun fell out. She rounded in time to see the man on approach, weapon held ready for the kill. She raised her sword, parried, then kicked, but landed her foot upon the hard wall behind, sending her off balance.

The man came down upon her, fast, but not quickly enough for Lia to duck down and attempt to run him through. Her weapon was knocked back out of the way as she darted it forth, sending her off balance once more and tumbling over, but with a quick burst of agility she rolled back to her feet and sped off as fast as possible, picking up a dropped SMG as she did.

The man had given up pursuit, pre-occupied by another man who Lia recognised as Number Six. She wanted to turn back, but in doing so she would most likely cause more harm than good, so instead she darted around another corner and rolled to take cover again.

In this hallway, Agents were having a shoot out with the intruders. Ducking in and out of the doorways and from behind objects they’d forced over. Another two Agents lay dead nearby, weapons not even drawn with bullet holes in their backs. She snatched up one of SMG’s and stole the holsters for a 9mm, then without giving it anymore thought she charged down the hallway firing. The intruders ducked behind their barriers, not wanting to be shot as Lia ran down, jumped up and onto a small wheeling-platform and rolled down at high speeds, weapon blazing. Then, as she reached the end the crossover where most the men stood, she flung her arms out and took down those taking cover before rolling off the platform which sped off and smashed into the end of the corridor.

The men behind her cheered briefly at her as she forced herself up, withdrew the pistol and ran off once more in the sane direction.

The place had turned into chaos so quickly and without any warning. Men and women lay dead, most of them unfortunately Agents or just civilian workers. It was an onslaught.

Lia was getting worried. She knew Jason and Leon were inside the building, along with her other friends, and she had no way of telling whether or not they were dead.

She forced away the thought. They had to be alive. Jason was amazingly strong and Leon was exceptionally smart! There was no way they’d be brought down, not here, not like this.

She rounded the corner once more and came again to a suddenly skidding halt. The ninja, same as she’d fought stood in front of her. His eyes staring down at her. He seemed surprised and yet pleased to see her at the same time. She gripped her sword and readied herself to strike. This time she’d land her blow without having to get get caught into a long fight. This time, the ninja would pay!

Then there were two shots and her mind felt hazy. Looking down she found two green darts sticking out of her. In her temporary absentmindedness, the Ninja had pulled out a tranquilliser gun on her and shot her.

Her eyelids felt heavy, the sound of combat drowned out around her, and she stumbled backwards into the wall, slumping down as she did. She attempted to fight back, using all her strength into lifting her gun.

But then the ninja walked up to her, knelt down to be eye level, and pulled off his mask. Lia looked at the face, but couldn’t’ decipher it properly. It looked familiar. Then, just as she thought she’d recognised the man, the tranquillisers held victory over her consciousness, and all she could do before falling into a deep sleep was mouth the words, “It couldn’t be.”

Part 2

There was a temporary moment where Lia felt as if she had died. Her body was numb, her conscious seemed to float, and everything felt light and awkward. She strained to move but found that nothing responded. She blinked, or at least thought about blinking and found that everything around her remained dark.

She felt with her hand and found a hard, cushion mass underneath her. Under that was a free space, and metal railing to support her bed. To her left was a rocky wall, cold to touch. She figured that she was in an underground facility, and she was in a dark prison cell within its depths.

Footsteps sounded outside her space. A few quiet beeping sounds were made, then a sliding sound. Lights flicked on and she raised her hand instinctively to shield out the light, but found that chains had been attached to her wrists to stop her from moving.

A figured loomed over her, then knelt down and moved over, closely to her face. A soft, warm touch felt upon her lips for a short moment, then arms wrapped around her.

She felt bemused, in shock. After blinking her eyes focused on the figure around her.

“Lia… I never knew… If I knew, I wouldn’t have… Damn it.”

She recognised the voice immediately. “Damien?” She thought of the moment before she’d been knocked out. “Damien!”

Damien moved off her and unlocked the chains from around her. Lia lay perfectly still, then as soon as the chains were off she sprung into action, flipping off the bed and wrapping a hand around Damien’s neck, the other hand made into a fist and ready to strike.

Damien moved fast, grabbing a hold of Lia’s incoming fist, and then with quick reaction relinquished Lia’s neck hold and put her into an arm lock.

“Stop it Lia! I’ve been forced to hurt you enough already, I don’t want to have to hurt you any more!” Lia continued to struggle. “Please Lia! That’s enough!”

She continued to fight for a few more seconds before stopping. “Fine.”

Damien edged her back to the bed and released her. “Sit. We need to talk.”

Lia sat down on the bed, eyes diverted at the wall which turned out not to be rock, but a rough concrete. Damien sat down next to her, keeping a small distance in case she tried anything again.

“I should’ve shot you when I had the chance.” Spoke Lia, still not looking at Damien. “You fucking bastard.”

“Hey, I know you’re angry, but can you at least try to hold it, please? I know what I’ve done to you is wrong… but… Oh, how am I going to explain this to you.”

“How about you start at the beginning.”

Damien sat forward and sighed. “Okay. Good idea.” He sat slumped forward for a short while, trying to figure out where to start.

“How about you begin with that time at the restaurant.” Prompted Lia, now staring at her lap.

“You were there?”

“Yeah, like you were!”

“Oh…Well. I was sent out to bring down Mulheimer, as I figure you would have guessed. Then…”

“Were you working with these arseholes then?”

“What? No… not at the time.”

“Then when?”

“Later… After they captured my comrades. They forced my… friend to work for them. Then I was released. Then another. We’ve been doing work for them so they would let us all go.”

“So at the castle. You were hired to killed him, and they took your comrades prisoner as payback.”

“No, we were under their service then. They hired us to kill him. He was planning to betray.”

“That explains why you tried not to kill me… But you… you attacked one of my friends! You ran him through, almost killed him!”

“But he lived. I saw him… after… that Machine you had to destroy. I saw him after.”

Lia lifted her head to look at Damien. “You? You saved me, didn’t you? And destroyed the Machine. I remember now. I was knocked out.”

Damien nodded. “Yes. I couldn’t just let you die…”

Lia looked back down at her lap again, shaking her head slightly in disbelief. With a slow movement, Damien lifted her head back up by the chin to face him. “I don’t want you hurt, Lia… I care about you.”

Lia stared into Damien’s eyes for a moment, and then brushed away his hand. “You knew. All along. Since the restaurant… and you never told me?”

“No, I didn’t know you were there, until just before. And… well, what was I supposed to tell you? If you knew, then things could’ve gotten worse, for both of us. I had to keep playing along.”

“You lied to me.”

“Hey, so did you! Grandmothers house? I know a helicopter engine when I hear it.”

“You should’ve said something!”

“So should you!”

“I didn’t know who you were… I only knew you. I didn’t know Nightwolf. Just Damien… and now… I don’t even know who you are either.”

“Well it’s not like I don’t have the same problem. You tricked me too.”

“You lying bastard, you don’t work for any corporation doing desk work…”

“Yeah, well I don’t even know where you worked! I always wondered that…”

“Don’t change the subject!”

“I’m not changing anything!”

“Bastard!”

“Hey!” Yelled a tall man, donning the same uniform of the Ninja Lia had encountered back at the FSA headquarters.

“Master… I didn’t…”

“So, looks like you two have a little history together.”

Damien went to speak, but found no words. Instead he hung his head and sighed.

The Ninja looked at Lia who held her gaze back at him. After a short moment, the Ninja turned to leave. “When you’re done talking to your girlfriend, I’d like a word with you.”

“Hmph. I doubt I’m his girlfriend anymore, let alone a friend.” Lia said as the Ninja left.

Damien lifted his head to look back at Lia. “What?”

“You betrayed my trust.”

Damien seemed dumbstruck from a moment. “So? You lied to me too.”

“It’s not just that… I don’t even know you anymore, Damien… And after what’s happened… This just isn’t going to work.”

They stared at each other. Damien seemed slightly in shock. Lia had a blank, yet sincere expression. She leaned forward and kissed Damien’s cheek then whispered, “You better get going.”

Damien sat in place for a moment then nodded.

There was nothing else said as he departed the room, locking the door behind himself.

 

* * *

Damien, Hawk and Sylvana stood back in the dark room, a light pointed straight at them, almost bright enough that they had to squint. But they held their stance, standing straight and tall. This was their lucky break. They’d done extremely well, and that meant members of their group would be released from captivity.

Damien thought back to a few moment back, after he spoke with Lia.

“Nightwolf, you need to be careful with what you do. The mission specified no prisoners, and they aren’t pleased you took one… you’re lucky it’s someone they wanted, however. They say they can use her… to get to the others. They say if we can do this, everyone will be set free. Our clan will be reunited.”

He felt more awful now. He’d taken Lia prisoner to protect her from being killed. Now it seemed it was going to happen regardless. Members of the Falcon Shadow Agency had escaped, and the Black Clad’s wanted them all dead. They would likely torture Lia for information, and if she didn’t present any, she would be killed. Though, he knew, even if she did give them what they wanted they would kill her regardless.

“Nightwolf. I understand you have deep feelings for this woman, but you can’t let it get in your way.”

He was right. He made a promise to get those imprisoned free. But, then again, didn’t he make something similar to Lia? To not let her get hurt? To be there for her?

They’d been going out for some time before that incident, before the mission at the restaurant, even.

“Here Lia. I figured, since we’d been out for some time. You’d like this.”

He’d given her a small heart shaped, gold amulet. Inside where the words, “I will always be there for you, no matter what it takes”.

He felt suddenly guilty of betrayal. Sure, they’d both played a lie on each other, but he couldn’t think of anything Lia’d done that measured to the betrayal he’d played upon her.

The guilt weighed upon him, messing with his head. He recalled the one final thing Raven had said.

“…Bide your time. If you act too soon, I will have to kill you… and none of us want to do that.”

He couldn’t bide his time anymore. It wasn’t possible. Lia would die soon if he didn’t do anything, but if he acted, he would betray the others in turn, and then they would have to kill him.

He suddenly realised that the Black Clad leaders were talking. “… hunt them all down. Even if the woman does not talk, we can locate them. There is no-where they can hide. The Lord shall see to that.”

Damien had only heard this name mentioned once before. When they said it, they didn’t mean God, but the Lord of the Black Clad Legion. The man who controlled everything.

“The Lord has a plan that will locate them all, destroy them, and then make our mission all that much better.”

“Now. Be gone.” Said another. “We must prepare for what is to come.”

They all bowed their heads and moved back before turning to leave.

“Sylvana.” Spoke Hawk. “You go and retrieve the two of our clan who have been allowed to leave. No doubt we will need them.”

“Yes, master.” She gave a quick smile to Damien then walked off.

“Nightwolf.” You can go to your dormitory. I will retrieve the woman.”

Damien’s eyes widened. “Huh? But why?”

“You heard them. She must be questioned, and I don’t think you should be the one to take her there.”

Damien thought rigorously. He knew that the worst would come, then Lia would die. He had a serious choice to make, but didn’t know how to do it. He didn’t want Lia to die, but he didn’t want to betray the clan.

He stopped Hawk from walking off.

“Master. No… I will… I want take her there. I have to do this.”

Hawk stared at him directly into the eyes as if searching his soul. Then he nodded and stood aside.

“Thank you Master.”

 

* * *

Lia sat in her room, barely moving. She’d been pondering what to do to get out of where she was. But the problem was she didn’t know where she was at all. Even if she did somehow escape, she had to fight through unknown opponents to get there, some of them maybe to strong even for her. Like the Ninja she’d fought. And Damien. He was a match for her, at least. Or maybe he was stronger. He never wanted to hurt her.

She scrambled her head in frustration. If she kept thinking hard like she was, she’d just end up with a headache. Instead, she decided to take a break and sleep. But, just before she could lie down, the door opened again and in walked Damien in full Ninja gear.

Lia didn’t say a word, just gave him a side-glance and stared back at the floor.

Damien stood in front of her and offered his hand.

“Lia… I made a promise to you… and I’m going to keep it. Even if it means betraying the clan.”

Lia stared curiously at him for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“I’m getting you the hell out of hear. FSA members have escaped, and I know you know where they are. I’m going to help you get to them, then I’m going to help you all bring the Black Clad’s down before they can go through with their dark deeds…” Damien paused for a moment. “Even if it means I have to fight… and probably kill… those I care dearly for.”

Lia stared at him some more before she took his hand and stood up. “Why are you doing this?”

He searched for the right words, but couldn’t find the right thing to say.

“I guess. I still love you.”

They stood still as if frozen in time. Lia moved forward and pressed lips close to Damien’s for a brief embrace.

She gently pulled away. “You know… that’s actually the Damien I remember.”

Part 3

An alarm went off. Damien and Lia had broken into the room where Lia’s items had been taken, but to do so, they’d killed three guards.

“We need to get moving, right now!” Ordered Damien.

“I know, just give me a sec. I can’t get far without my weapon.”

“Could you please hurry it up?”

“Just a sec… ah, found it!”

They ran out of the room just as two men entered the security door to the room. Damien was already upon them, his sword slicing through the closest man’s neck. The second guard, bewildered, was run through by Lia. She snatched his gun, aimed, and fired a clean shot to the temple to finish him off.

Three more guards began to appear around the hallway at the end, their Assault Rifles at ready.

Damien threw a smoke bomb to the ground, grabbed Lia by the arm and pulled her in the opposite direction. They got through the next doorway being fortunate enough to not be hit.

“We need to go down hear, go through two more security doors, then escape through a ventilation shaft which should take us to the helipad. I hope you can fly, because I sure as hell can’t, but we won’t escape by car or on foot!”

“Lucky you… I can fly.” Replied Lia through quick breaths as they sprinted down the hall, around another corner, bowling over another guard as they did and tripping another man who strolled out of a room.

As they sped into the next corridor, Damien tried to ask Lia where the remaining agents were hiding, but Lia replied to that with an angered look.

“What. I was just asking.” He replied defensively as he cut through two more guards and disarmed another.

They both took cover behind a wall and blind fired on a group blocking their way on the other end of the corridor they wished to move through.

“Why the hell would I tell you? Especially if we’re still in hear!”

Lia got low, aimed around quickly and brought two men down with a few shots.

“Sorry I asked. I was just curious.”

Lia stared at him, and gave him a suspicious look. “You sound almost like your interrogating me. Maybe I shouldn’t be taking you with me. Maybe I should be knocking you out at the least!”

“No, no! I’m not doing that! Shit!” Damien fired behind Lia and nailed another guard in the head. His gun fired but the bullets whizzed past and with a stroke of luck, hit another guard behind him. “Look, I’m not interrogating you. There was no need for that. If we wanted you interrogated, then would have taken you to where they could find out everything from you, then they would have killed you! I don’t want that!”

“Sheesh, I didn’t mean any offence. I’ve got to be careful, right?”

They fired around the corner again and finished off the remaining guards before they got up and sped around the corner with Damien dropping another smoke pellet behind them.

“Look, I’ll explain more when we get out of hear. Maybe. I still don’t entirely trust you.”

“Yeah, I know. I guess I should be careful of you too.”

Lia stopped. “And just what do you mean by that?”

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Lia continued to run and Damien shook his, frustrated.

Finally they reached the shaft Damien had mentioned. With a moment to lose, they shot off the hinges and crawled through.

“Okay, take a left, go forward for a short distance, and then go right. Follow that right ahead. Don’t take any more corners until you hit a T intersection. We’ll climb up through a vent there and come out right at the helipad… hopefully with some cover to use.”

A metallic noise sounded through the shaft, echoing against its walls.

“What was that?” Asked Lia.

“They’re closing the shaft off. Move faster! We have to get out.”

They quickened their pace, crawling, almost sliding their way, through the shaft.

“Up ahead, It’s closing!” Called Lia

“Go faster!”

It was a race. Them versus a slowly closing door. Lia scrambled through with a quick slide, then turned to see Damien try the same thing, but his weapon caused him too much friction and the slide proved little success. He was caught under the middle. Lia reach up quickly, grabbed both his arms and yanked, then with a second to spare got him through.

“Well, I believe we are even now.”

Damien almost laughed. “Well, maybe not. I’ve saved you twice now. Once from a exploding machine, and again from being tortured to death.”

Lia sighed. “Fine. How about I buy the coffee if we get out and we’ll call it even.”

“Is that a date?”

“I wouldn’t call it a date, so don’t get your hopes up.”

Damien let out a sigh of his own as they both began to crawl once more. They reached the intersection and looked up.

“Okay Lia. You get up on my shoulders, and I’ll lift you up to the grate. If it’s all clear, get out then give me a hand up.”

Moonlight shone through part of the grating, but was shadowed by a large object. After checking that no one was looking, Lia heaved up the grate and pushed it aside just enough to crawl through. A large truck provided extra cover for them, and with a quick look about a small helicopter was spotted sitting alone with only a single guard between them and the vehicle. But Lia knew that there was likely others out of her line of sight, which meant bad news.

She lay down, reached in, and helped Damien get out of the shaft.

“Over there. We can use that to get out. If we can get to it without being spotted, we can steal it. But I can’t see much from here. I reckon as soon as we stick our heads out, we’ll be spotted. Any ideas?”

“None that comes right to mind. We’ll probably have to detour a bit to get around to it. We may even have to get the keys to start it, not to mention a gun that’s bigger than the pistols we’ve got.”

“You’re right. Shit.”

They continued to whisper to each other about their plan, unaware that someone had already spotted them.

In the shadow’s, standing only a few metres from them, blended perfectly into the surroundings, Hawk stood and watched them. He knew how Nightwolf thought. He knew that the only way out safely was by using a chopper. He also knew that it was nearly impossible to get into a chopper undetected, let alone have the means to wire it and escape fast enough.

In his hand, however, some keys sat. He flicked through them, silently, found the correct one, and dropped it in front of Lia and Damien. The key almost made them both jump out of hiding as it landed in front of them.

“What the hell?” Exclaimed Lia, looking around.

Damien looked back into the shadow’s, thought he saw something move, then gave a nod.

“Come on. Keep to the shadows and move on my mark. We have our escape.”

“What?” Said Lia, completely confused.

The guard near the chopper had strolled off around the helicopter they wanted, then in the blink of an eye, vanished.

“Go!”

They got up and moved quickly. Lia spotted another guard laying sprawled on the ground, his neck in an awkward angle. She didn’t fully understand what had occurred, but she had a hunch it was the another Ninja’s doing.

Without hesitation, they jumped into the chopper, switched on the engines and prepared to leave. Any guard they may have tried to stop them was gone. Assassinated by what could have been mistaken for no more than a mere shadow. By the time any others had emerged to se what had gone on, it was too late. The propellers had reached enough revolutions to be able to get the chopper flying.

They flew off into the night sky, the moon still peering from the clouds. Damien looked out the window to see if anyone had taken pursuit and noticed something once again upon a watchtower, observing their escape, the wind blowing enough to cause the Ninja’s scarf to wave like a flag.

He knew that this would be the last time he’d see Hawk help him, because the next time they met he knew that he would have to fight him to the death.

Part 4

The helicopter had made a fast escape from the Black Clad’s secret base of operations. Hawk had seen to that. However, with the lives of his imprisoned clan at risk, it was down to him to reason with the leaders and hopefully convince them not to execute any.

The escape of the woman, Lia O’Donnell, had caused their ‘Lord’ to become ferociously angered. Hawk had seen what happened to others when he was angered.

Alexi Ülgenstein, one of the Three that had been placed in charge of the Brightcast project and any outside operations involved with it, had turned traitor. As a result, he was hunted and killed. No chance given for redemption.

Hawk wondered if the same results would fall upon him, or Sylvana, or any other clan members. He hoped not.

As he was allowed to enter the dark room where many times before he had been made to stand with one light shining in his face to disguise those behind the dark veil, his cunning mind thought of a plan.

He stopped in the centre, as always, and a light flashed on towards him. He’d grown used to the sudden light, and now, his eyes did not flinch even the slightest.

“Hawk!” Boomed an angered voice. “Your Ninja have let us down, again!”

“You are supposed to be in control of your Ninja.” Spoke another angered voice. “And you have failed to keep a tight leash on those you command.”

“This is unacceptable!” Exclaimed another. “Our Lord is angered by this failure, outraged and disgusted.”

“He wants explanation for this failure.” Spoke the second man again.

“Explain to Him, and we shall see His judgment!” Spoke the first.

Hawk stood rigid, eyes focused straight ahead. He dare not show any signs of weakness before them. He had learnt that the Black Clad’s, though treacherous and dishonourable in their own way, valued respect, loyalty and presentation in their ‘minions’.

“Sir’s. The renegade Ninja under my command has betrayed us. He has been disciplined multiple times to pull his own act together, but has failed to hold to what he has been ordered to do. Myself, and my fellow Ninja, Sylvana, remain loyal and true, as we agreed to you.”

“Bah! How can we trust your word on that! You Ninja are sneaky and treacherous!” Complained the first man, again.

“Sir, with all due respect, we Ninja know our boundaries when we pledge to work for someone we honour that till the end. Nightwolf has broken that. He has betrayed you, and by doing so, he has betrayed us. He has lost his honour and that can never be forgiven”

“Oh really.” Spoke the third man just before a screen flashed on to hawk’s right displaying an infrared camera shot. Hawk recognised the man hiding in the shadows as him. “Explain to me, if you are so loyal to your code of honour, why did you assist in their escape?”

Hawk quickly searched for the words. He’d been thrown into a gambit in which death would follow for those who did not get out.

“I assisted them on purpose for a beneficial cause.”

“Oh really.” Spoke the third man once more.

“Explain then. What is this ‘benefit’ you have?” Prompted the second.

“There was a probably chance that we would not find the location to where the remaining Falcon Shadow Agents hide. By letting these two go free, I have assured they will be found. They will come back here as certain as the moon will rise as the sun sets. They wish to stop you, and will do what ever it takes to do it. But, since we know that they’ll return to here, we can plan for it, and set a trap for them. They will be finished off in whatever manner we wish, without the waste of time and resources on trying to search for them.”

“Impressive plan.” Came another voice that Hawk was unfamiliar with. “Very impressive.”

A figure loomed in the shadows behind the light before descending to the floor where Hawk stood. It walked in front of the light, coming close to Hawk, who held his stance, determined to show no fear.

The tall figure’s face remained hidden in the shadows, all except an eye that seemed to glow a bloodthirsty red. “This plan will go forth. But it appear improper shackles have been harnessed on you. Therefore, to make sure that there is no trickery behind your motives.”

A sharp electric shock went throughout Hawk’s body, forcing his muscles to contract and land him upon the floor. He felt pain seer at his body, then a painful stabbing at his chest. He tried to let out a scream of pain but found no air left to use.

“Mind control is an impressive tool. You won’t be a problem anymore.”

Hawk forced himself to stare up at the figure and noticed a wicked smile across his face. Suddenly another sharp pain stabbed at the back of his neck and everything became nothing but a cold embrace. But before all life seemed to fade out of himself, he felt his body raise back to a stance.

“Unfortunate that you will die because of this. Almost a waste of your talents, but rest assured, your corpse will be put to good fighting use yet… Nightwolf… will die… and so will all your clan.”

Then there was nothing.