Umbra Mortis

Chapter Seven- The meeting

"Ash, call Jakayla. We’ll bring her as our third." Ash nodded, dialing Jakayla. Hannah strode off, "I'll meet you at the entrance in 5 minutes."

Alone in the armory, the Right Hand retrieved her dagger from its place of honor on her assassination uniform. The uniform and its accoutrements were on a dais in the hall, draped over a mannequin. Hannah couldn’t tear her gaze away, trying to remember when her last mission was.

The dagger was a work of art, carved from black obsidian with a beautifully engraved grip. While most obsidian weapons were fragile and therefore decorative, the dagger was enchanted with a spell that kept it razor sharp and made it unbreakable. Maisie was generous to her friends.

Hannah sheathed the dagger to her back, adding a now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t spell to the dagger, which shielded it from the view of those who did not know it was there.

Ash and Jakayla were waiting for her by the entrance.

The first thing Ash handed the ladies was a small, black, bean-shaped object. "This is cutting edge technology. It connects to Anna so she can speak to you both. Virtually undetectable; the perfect earpiece for meeting unknowns."

Anna, of course, was part of Ash’s technology department. She, while not technically in charge of security, was the lady in the chair, directing missions behind the scenes. She gave operatives realtime updates on everything from the best routes to take through buildings to “oh shit get the fuck out of there there’s a fucking tank headed your way.”

"Ash, you know that the earpiece is supposed to be invisible, right?" Jakayla asked, putting the device into her ear.

"What the-'' baffled, Hannah watched in amazement as the black device instantaneously molded itself to the exact shape and shade of Jakayla’s ear. Hannah quickly shoved hers in. Ash smirked, continuing his spiel.

"Not only does it match your skin and ear shape perfectly, making it virtually invisible, but it won't fall out. Even better, it picks up anything, so no need to awkwardly scratch your ear. Anna will be Big Brother, and always listening! Try not to go too far underground, though.”

The next thing Ash pulled from his bag of wonder were glasses. The look of confusion again appeared on Hannah and Jakayla’s faces.

“Wow, still don’t trust me? These babies are tricked out. They automatically scan the area on multiple light spectra, automatically identifying and highlighting things like persons, hidden doors and weapons."
Hannah, inspecting the glasses Ash handed to her, startled.

"Are these my actual glasses? Ash, when the fuck did you snatch my glasses?"

"Leader Maisie gave them to me. She, uh, also may… may have asked me … to deliver … a message?"

"C’mon, spit it out. What did she tell you to tell me?”

"She uh, she said ‘How the fuck were you ever an assassin? You’re blinder than a fucking bat. No wonder I always have to point out where to look when we are out and about.”

Silently, the right Hand snatched the glasses and set them on the bridge of her nose.

"Can we go? Or do you have anything else, tech genius?"

Ash shook his head.

"Wonderful."

On a signal from Hannah, the nearby maid opened a portal, stepping back to allow Hannah, Ash and Jakayla to step through.

The portal dropped them into an old factory. Which led them to question, what the fuck was an old factory doing in the middle of a modern city? That question, however, would have to wait for later. There was work to be done.