The Wolfpack

Chapter 7: Advance

     I woke up to the sound of one of the beds creaking, so I sat up and looked around. Blake and Fang were both asleep on their own beds, which only left Jace and Ember to... oh. I rolled my eyes and yawned, walking over to one of the desks. I pulled a black t-shirt over my torso and pulled the gauntlets onto the desk. As I set them on the desk, I pulled out a set of tools to work on them. I began to take them apart, piece by piece, as I started to understand it better, what every piece did, and how the whole thing could work. It took me all night to fully understand how it all worked, but I managed to do so.

     Over the course of four weeks, I found pieces of technology to add, so I decided to add to the gauntlets. Through a lot of Trial and Error, I was able to modify the gauntlets and add a few things. As I finished the final adjustments, I smirked and stood up.

     "I'm going to the training area," I told everyone, and made my way to the building. I set up a few targets as I stood in the center of them all, alone inside the warehouse. I took a deep breath and held up my newly modified gauntlets. I slipped them onto my arms, and activated them. The gauntlets spread out against my arms and palms like an exoskeleton. I had modified my pistols so that they were part of the wrists of my new gauntlets, so when I activated them, the modified barrels of the pistols came out of the wrists of the gauntlets. I took aim and shot down a target to test the new firearms. I stepped on a switch and made a target appear behind me.

     I hit a button on my left palm, the button causing the hilt of my sword to shoot out of a holding unit in my exo-arm, catching it with my right hand. I then shot the blade out of the hilt and quickly turned, slicing the target to pieces as I quickly moved to several other targets nearby. I destroyed every target nearby with my sword and retracted the blade as I took aim with the pistol in my exo-wrist, shooting down the last target on ground level.

     I replaced my sword hilt in the storage unit, then pushed a button my right gauntlet. The exoskeletons around my arms retracted into the gauntlets once more as I moved toward the exit. As I took a step outside, a bullet whizzed by as I quickly retreated behind the door. I looked out side, and gasped. All around the narrow alley to the warehouse were the servants of the Grand Master. I gripped the handle to the door and closed it, locking myself in.

     I heard several gunshots hit the door as I rushed toward the center of the warehouse, hiding behind a few barrels we used as a place to sit and rest. I looked all around, then took notice of a few obstacles inside while gunshots still hit the door. I jumped on top of the barrels and reached up to a metal beam. I pulled my self up and moved to the second floor of the warehouse, all while hearing the door finally break as several men entered the first floor.

     "Find him! The Grand Master wants the Assassin and his friends alive." I hid behind a wall as I was stuck inside the office, looking on as the men searched the entire first floor for me. "You!" The one in charge pointed towards two of the other men and told them, "Search the second floor. That's an order." As the two looked for a way up, I quietly made my way towards a window. As I pulled myself out of the window, I hung from it from the outside.

     I should have stayed to find out some information, but I should have ran while I had the chance. I mentally debated myself for a good while before I decided to climb up to the roof and look around. It seemed like all the servants were inside. I made my way to the skylight and looked down, seeing about 7 men in total. All of them had some kind of firearm on them, which made it all the more difficult. I sighed and thought of what I could do and how to take on all of them without getting myself killed.

     I activated my newly modified gauntlets and jumped up. I quickly shot downwards and shattered the skylight a bit, sending my boot down onto the glass to completely destroy it. The glass cut about 3 of the men as I landed on the leader of the pack, knocking him out for the time being. I quickly moved behind cover as several bullets grazed my skin barely. I activated the pistols in my exo-wrists, then aimed as I shot the two men near the leader in the heads. They collapsed to the ground and I quickly looked around for the other four men, ducking my head as I barely avoided several bullets aimed for me.

     I rushed over to the other side of the warehouse and slid into cover as I shot another guy in his shoulder. I heard the man shout, "Dammit! Kill this kid, already!" as I moved behind a steel support beam. I began to climb back up to the second level. I discovered the wood flooring under one of the men was fairly weak, so I shot through it three times and punched through it. The wood began creaking and bending as it got weaker and weaker. I grabbed the guy's leg and pulled him down, the flooring giving out as he fell to the ground level. He landed on his back and I sent a shot into his head.

     I pulled myself onto the second level and rushed two of them. One of them started to shoot at me, but I used his friend as a shield, the second guy taking several bullets to the waist as I moved behind him. I sent a hidden blade, modified to shoot out from above the wrists instead of below as they rested below the gun holsters, into the man's skull, then pushed him into his friend. As the second guy tried to push the dead body off him, I jumped on the dead corpse and pushed the live male onto his back. I clenched my fist and my hidden blade sliced his throat open.

     The last male alive was on the opposite side of the second level, shooting at me with a pistol with his good arm. I shot at him and a bullet shot through his other shoulder. I used the zip wire I rarely used anymore and had it wrap around his neck. I pulled him over the ledge and hung him from the second level, his body swinging as he tried to escape the makeshift noose. I retracted the zip wire and shot the male through the head, his body falling to the ground.

     I dropped down carefully and walked toward the leader. He remained on the floor as I walked over to him, but he quickly stood up and knocked me onto my back. He pulled out a combat knife to try and stab me, but I kicked him away and jumped up. He rushed me, but I went under his arm and grabbed it from behind him. I snapped his arm in several different places as he dropped his knife.

     "Don't make me break the other arm. How does the Grand Master keep finding my friends and me?" The guy laughed and shook his head. I knocked him down to one knee and pulled back on one of his fingers, breaking it and making the grown man scream in pain. "Don't make me ask again!"

     "The Grand Master has eyes and ears everywhere. You're never truly safe." I looked down at the male and growled.

     "Who's supplying the Grand Master with information about us, specifically? I know you have a name." The man simply spit at the ground and shook his head with a, "Go to Hell, kid." I grabbed another finger, but he quickly protested.

     "Okay, okay! It's one of your so-called 'friends,' but I swear I don't have a name. I'm just a scout sent to capture you and your friends! I swear that's all I know."

     I stabbed the man with a hidden blade in the back and dropped him. I rolled him onto his back and he looked up at me as he asked, "Why? I told you everything?"

     "I just can't let you walk away and warn your friends." With his dying breath, I closed his eyes and mumbled an old Latin saying that was popularly used with the cultist assassins that trained me. "Requiescat in pace. Rest in peace." To this day, I still wonder why a cult exists because of a freaking video game franchise. I let the man go and walked out of the warehouse, making my way to the hotel with my hood over my head.

     I entered the hotel and got into the elevator, but the power inside went out and the elevator stopped. I sighed and looked up, knocking out one of the panels as I pulled myself onto the top of the elevator. I jumped off the top of it and grabbed onto a metal beam, beginning to climb my way up to my floor. As I got to the floor, I tried pulling the doors apart. They refused to open as my hand slipped, making me almost fall down 10 floors and to my death -- What a way to go that would have been -- so I quickly pulled myself back up and I thought of something. I activated my exo-arms and grabbed the doors once again. I began pulling them apart and they slowly opened, my body pulling itself up as I opened the doors.

     I moved through the doors and they closed after I let them go. I sighed in relief and stood up, keeping my exo-arms up as I moved to the hotel room. I got thirsty from had happened and went to the vending machines to get a water. I took noticed that the buttons "G-1-3" had been a little roughed up, almost like it was a code for something. I gasped to myself and shook my head, running to the hotel room as I opened the door and walked inside, the others looking at me weirdly.