Don't Forget

#15 His Mask

Sky has learned to be better after his first solo mission. The assassin has spent the last three years taking contracts for himself. He's nowhere near as good as Red or Ian, but Sky certainly isn't the kind of enemy that anyone would wish for.
Sky always has at least half a dozen weapons on his person. He's grown taller and more muscled, but still lithe and flexible. He has to be in order to survive this kind of work. Sky is an assassin. He's killed people. Squid or human, male or female, it doesn't matter in the end. Each kill is his own gain.
     Sky isn't a victim or a coward. Sky fights only for himself. And the freedom is like nothing he's ever felt before. Sky isn't a prisoner and he's not expected to do everything perfectly. He can do things his own way and when he wants it. The only restriction is a small slice of his blood money goes to Red. The price is nothing compared to the gain.
     Sky watches closely as the small group enters the jungle. This is his night to patrol on the outskirts, and they just happen to have chosen a very bad night to appear. Sky will wait for them to cross Red's boundaries before sticking a knife in that red-head's back. He's a little too far away to see much else with the sun setting.
The assassin drops slowly to the forest floor without making any sound. His shoes have small grooves that slip into the cracks of the tree bark, and he's strong enough to support all his weight with one arm and reach down with other. He follows the horses from the shadows up until Red's boundaries.
Sky is surprised to see when one of them actually knows how to get past. The man in the lead stops the others from crossing the flowers. That one in the back really is loud.
For fun and necessity, he circles around and throws a stick straight past the loud one's face. They yelp and almost fall off their horse. Sky can't help but crack a smile. The stick hits someone else in the face before the one in the lead catches it.
     "We're looking for Red!", they shout out. They know Red? No wonder they stopped at the bushes. Red only lets a few of his business partners know how to get here. The guy throws the broken stick back into the trees, and Sky circles back to the front.
He pops out of the brush and into the middle of the path with his short swords drawn. Sky will still kill these guys if they make a wrong move. He looks at the two in front before looking at the others. The red-head is there. He looks a little Kyladian, surprisingly. The last guys meets Sky's gaze right away. There's something about that face that feels familiar to him. It's something from before that Sky quickly brushes off and ignores. They both look away.
"Are you part of the guild?", the stranger asks. Sky doesn't answer. Ian would've at least said yes or no, but Sky just stares. The stranger eventually sighs and tells the others to get off the horses. The loud one from earlier complains about leaving the horses. It's a full minute before they all get off and Sky speaks.
"Follow the trail", he says. This what Red says to do if they know all the rules. Sky then ducks into the trees and quickly moves ahead. His steps are still silent on the forest floor. There's lots of entrances to the assassins' guild house, and the group will take a different one that's farther away.
     Sky moves through the trees until finding a small mound of boulders. There's a crack at the base that he can just squeeze through. The space opens up into a sloped crawl space, then into a stone passage. It's completely dark and Sky drags one hand along the wall while running down the hall.
It isn't long before the passage ends in a large, wooden door. Sky shoulders it open and climbs up a steep set of stairs before breaking into the manor house's first floor.
The room is wide and tall, aiming to impress. Twenty doors, the same as the one Sky entered from, line two sides of the room. A wide staircase goes up to the other floors. The assassin sighs before starting to climb. Red has gone a little overboard in building this place. A mountain of stairs must be defeated in order to reach his office.
     Sky finally gets to the top of the stairs and sulks on the way to Red's office. Of all the nights a group could of barged into the jungle, it has to be on his patrol.
The top floor of the manor house is made to look creepy and old. Red designed it after something called a woodland mansion, just with a bigger top floor and the tunnels, of course. The pit outside is also one of Red's play things. Red will sometimes let people get to the mansion just to watch them fall through the bridge.
The office is at the end of a long hallway. Sky doesn't bother knocking, just letting himself in. He has to duck under a dagger that instantly flies past his face and into the hallway.
"Still no knocking? What if I actually get you one of these days?", Red huffs, sitting back down in his big chair. The office is lined with books, mostly on herbs and poisons. A few are actually story books that Red picked up for whatever reason.
"There's a group of four that I let through the borders", Sky explains, ignoring Red's earlier comment. Why would an assassin announce their presence?
"Which entrance did they use?", Red raises an eyebrow. Of he few people that he let's come into the jingle, they all know different doors into the manor.
"Thirteen, Red. A noble and three GoldenEye soldiers", Sky nods. He doesn't really know how he knows that they're soldiers. Maybe it has something to do with his little staring contest?
     "Barney? I haven't heard from him since before you got here", Red frowns, sitting up a little straighter in the chair, "Go find Vikk and the mute, won't you? They've been looking for the soldier's for a while. Can't lie or hide anything from me". He mumbled the last part underneath his breath.
     Sky doesn't argue. Following a few orders is a fair exchange for this new life, in his eyes. He leaves the office and walks back down the hall. He's only got about a minute until 'Barney' and the soldiers get in here. Sky doesn't think much of the ongoing war. Neither side is gaining anything from this long at war. The remaining GoldenEye troops will be discovered any day now. This war is barely younger then Sky is.
The assassin counts the doors down the hallway before stopping. He can hear faint voices on the other side, and can't fight his instinct to eavesdrop for a time.
"-wandering around might take a while, but we've been in this place for nine years. If the troops were going to come here, don't you think it would of happened by now?", a male voice is saying. Sky recognizes it as Vikk. He assumes that Sub is who's he talking to. Sub doesn't speak, using a type of sign language instead. The two aren't very good at hiding their true intentions. There are assassins all around, after all.
Sky finally decides to push in the door and interrupt them. Vikk looks up with a startled expression, Sub looking indifferent.
"Oh! Sky, did you need something?", Vikk quickly covers. Sub starts signing, Sky watching his hands closely. He knows the signs from some distant memory that he refuses to acknowledge. Vikk only knows a few signs.
"Is Red asking for us?", Sub signs.
      "Red wanted me to let you two know that there some GoldenEye troops on the bottom floor right..... about now", Sky says with a creeping smirk. As it to confirm it, all three of them hear someone running up the stairs and yelling.
"Why the hell would you have so many stairs!? Can't assassins climb walls or something?", they yell, obviously annoyed and stupid. Who yells at assassins and lives?
     "Don'ts scream in ans assassin's house", someone else yells at them. He's got a bit of an accent, but still stupid.
     Vikk and Sub exchange a quick look before they both dash out the door. Sky has to jump out of the way in order not to be run over. Do they really want to get away from the guild that badly? No one ever seems to stick around. Even Ian, Sky's teacher, has moved on to other things after his training was complete.
     Sky follows the other two more slowly. He still has to get this Barney guy up to Red. A screech of alarm from the second floor makes Sky pick up his pace. He quickly moves down a flight of stairs and to the the second floor landing. Vikk lays sprawled on the floor with a stranger next to him. They must have crashed into one another.
      Another wave of familiarity comes over Sky at seeing the guy for the second time. They're loud, rude, and a little witty. Even so, it seems like a facade. Sky ignores all this.
      The other three men get to the second floor, finding one assassin sprawled out on the floor with their comrade and two others standing over them. There's a brief lull of silence as the two groups stare at each other. Vikk is the first to speak.
     "Wait.... Mitch?", he says in disbelief. Vikk was a soldier before ending up in this place. It makes sense that he would know others. What Sky doesn't know if the depth of their relationship, and the other four who used to be part of the unit.
      One of the strangers is shocked frozen, presumably Mitch. They're dressed in a plaid coat with a white undershirt and dog tags. The tags catch Sky's eye, but he pushes the thought away.
"Oh, I see that you're all a bit familiar with each other", a voice snarks from the top of the stairs. Sky looks up to see Red straddling  the stair banister, staring to slowly slide down. He stops holding onto the top and zips down, landing on his feet right next to Sub.
Red's appearance is well suited to the nick name. His hair and hoodie are both bright red. He doesn't do a very good job of dressing like an assassin. A sword is strapped to his back, but that's the only visible weapon on him. Who knew that a thiry-sum Deader could resemble a washed-up teenager?
"Heys Red. It's been a whiles, hasn't it?", Barney smiles, surprisingly more comfortable with the crime boss mere feet away. Mitch has pulled Vikk up off the floor by now. Sky smirks underneath his scarf as the other one grumbles while picking himself up.
"Does anyone want to do introductions, or should I?", the red-head chimes in, rolling his eyes. They're in the middle of an assassin's guild house, and the mood is more playful then deadly. Nothing has seemed too bad except the pit outside.
"Is this where you've been? For nine years?", Mitch's attention is still on Vikk, not seeming to hear the red-head. Sky is more observing then anything else. Any information could be useful at a later date. It's amazing what people will say around strangers if you don't interrupt.
"We couldn't find the camps, dude. You guys must have some hell of a hiding spot", Vikk jokes, "And this is Sub. He's also been looking for the rest of the troops". The relief and happiness of finding Mitch again shows on his face.
     "Not to ruin the 'love fest' or anything, but why are you all barging into my home?", Red raises an eyebrow, impatience starting to creep in. Still, it's not like he has anything better to do.
     "I supposes it is about time to gets to business", Barney agrees, "This is Ty, Mitch, and Max. We came here because we need your help". Red's eyes get a small glimmer of interest at that.
     "Step into my office", he giggles.