Secrets of the Crown Assassins

54

XAVIER

I shot my gun, my hands covered in blood, the gunshot reverberating down the hall and piercing through my ears. The last Raven in the hall dropped to the ground. I turned to find Damien standing in the middle of a disarray of limbs and bodies as he pulled a knife out of a Raven's neck. He had a fresh gash down the length of his arm and bruise just below his collarbone, but it neither was critical. I took a deep breath. This was the second to last floor to the top. We were almost there. This was the final mile.

And much like the games in Evandor, it would be the deadliest.

Though I had been standing near the stairs, I didn't hear them until I saw them. Arielle and Phoenix appeared beside me, covered from head to toe in blood, the exhilaration of a fight in their eyes, the smiles of victory adorning their lips. Fortier's through and through.

"Kind of you to finally join us," Damien said from down the hall.

Phoenix opened her mouth, no doubt ready to give a snarky retort, but Arielle cut her off, instead saying, "I'm glad you two are okay."

Damien shrugged and smiled. "When am I not?"

She looked at me. I wanted to tell her I was fine, but I knew the words wouldn't make it out. I was too tired and my throat far too dry and painful. The hours spent in the Willis Tower and the extensive conversation I had with Ace certainly took their toll. I merely gave her a nod. She nodded back.

Phoenix gave an exaggerated yawn. "So now that we finished all the cheesy reunion shit, can we go finish this thing. I feel like we've been in here for days."

"You're welcome, by the way," Damien scoffed. "If I didn't turn off the Raven's voices we all probably would've still been stuck halfway down the tower."

She narrowed her eyes.

Damien smirked. "Relax, I didn't look at your file. Although the thought did occur to me. Of course, I could still go check now. You know, figure out what world ending secrets the almighty, most notorious thief of Concorde is hiding."

"You even think about it and I will burn every bit of your precious information," she hissed.

"Excuse you, we don't live in the CE era. It's a lot harder than just burning shit down. In fact, I doubt you could even get rid of the least encrypted data that I have."

Arielle rolled her eyes. "As much as I love this conversation, we need to find the Raven Ruler, or anyone important, and get out of here."

"I agree," Damien said and looked at his cuff. "All the bombs have been set up and Alistair should be flying over Chicago. We just need to get to extraction."

"How many people are above us?"

Damien looked at his cuff again. "I'm estimating around 20. There's just a hall connecting the two staircases and one large room which may or may not have a private staircase to the helicopter pad at the top."

"So, you two take the other staircase, Phoenix and I will take this one," she said, pointing at the one they just emerged from. "We attack from both sides and then you get us into the room."

"And then what?"

She shrugged. "If the Raven Ruler is still here, they'll be up there and probably be the most heavily guarded person. Figure out who the Raven Ruler is and kill the rest. Capture the Ruler. I don't think we can plan more beyond that, do you?"

Damien sighed and shook his head. Phoenix offered no response. Neither did I. She was right. There was no way to plan much better for what lay ahead because, despite the time we spent in here, the information Damien gathered, and the people we had run into, we still knew next to nothing about what lay ahead. The Ravens certainly knew how to keep their secrets. I wasn't sure how the Raven Ruler managed to keep everything so tight and secretive but still move all the necessary pieces of a meticulous and grand scheme.