by Kirk Twyman
“What can I say?” Eli said. “Brains run in the family. I’ve been thinking about this since before graduation. I thought one day you, me and Regina would…”
His voice grew quiet as soon as he spoke Regina’s name. He turned and looked at me.
“Take care of yourself, Rob,” he said. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need something.”
We embraced, and then with that, my cousin left, leaving me alone on the rooftops.
I stood alone on the roof, letting the bag of armor fall to my feet. The boot slipped out, and I looked down. It was funny how the Black Assassin looked so much smaller in the suit. I manipulated the boot to stand upright using my foot, and with a laugh, I inserted my left foot into the accompanying boot. I put the second boot on without much of a second laugh.
“What the hell?” I said. “One good turn deserves another.”
I put on the arm bands next. They were surprisingly light. I decided I might as well put on the armor itself. The Black Assassin felt so solid and heavy, I was afraid the breast plate would send me falling on my ass the second I tried it on. Instead, it fit like a glove, lightweight and flexible. I donned the helmet next, and suddenly felt rejuvenated, like the first day of spring after years of cold.
I could hear the individual sounds of the city – people in conversation, car alarms, even pets barking. That’s how I knew the guy six floors down had a Parakeet named Alice. It wasn’t just my senses that were sharpened. My reflexes improved drastically. The suit seemed to mirror my commands before I even thought it. It was honestly kind of freaky.
And fucking amazing.
I ran towards the adjacent roof-top and leapt into the air. This was it – a leap of faith. Normally, I would have to get a running start, but I had done this on a whim. I landed perfectly, bending my knees to marginalize an impact I hardly felt at all. I kept running from roof-top to roof-top, through the city until I reached my destination.
The Black Assassin’s last remaining safe house. We’d burned his house down, but he had one spare hideout, and from all the dust, it hadn’t been touched in years. Still, it had plenty of ninja weapons, medical supplies and rations to last months, if not years. That’s when I realized what I would do. The others had their paths. This was mine.
I would rebuild the Black Assassin into a force for mankind. And I would kill all of those, human or otherwise, who tried to bend man to their will.
I just had to deal with the army of assassins that had snuck in behind me. Thanks to the suit’s head-up display, I had spotted them coming in a mile away. They were crouched behind me, swords drawn. I turned to see every color of assassin I could imagine. Red. White. Orange. Blue. Green. Indigo.
I heard a familiar voice taunt me. “Look who’s playing dress up.”
Guerilla, the green leader, laughed at me. “The training wheels are off, kid. Now it’s time for the fall.”
I had the tech of the most powerful of their number at my command. I knew all their tricks and techniques from a lifetime of training. As they charged at me, swords drawn, I had only one thought.
This was going to be fun.
Catching Up with an Old Friend
Spoilers: I won that fight.
I also won the dozen or so after that. We called them the Rainbow Wars, as the assassins tried futilely to retain hold of their territories, but they were no match for us.
Despite how awesome my new tech was, I knew one Black Assassin wasn’t going to be enough, so I decided to franchise that shit. Our order grew with faces both new and old. We grew in strength over the next couple of years, systematically wiping out all traces of the old guard. Victoria and Trevor finally caught up with their old man, getting their much-deserved revenge on the Red Assassin. I was happy for them, but by then, I had moved on to bigger and better things. With the help of Boo Hall, I was able to turn my fledging order into a true superpower to rival the actual supers of this world.
It wasn’t all roses and sunshine. Orra still managed to hold on with one arm left, thanks to a tense alliance with Inferno. I spent some time looking for Frank, but all I found were bread crumbs and tattered capes. Eventually, I decided to leave it at that. It was time for the new guard anyway.
I trained a new generation of assassins, just as Frank and Gary had taught me. I also expanded the targets. We wouldn’t just go after supers. We would go after all bad guys.
Everything was going great.
Until it wasn’t.
While breaking up a smuggling ring, one of my teams was nearly killed by an unknown assailant – just one guy against a group of the best trained assassins in the business. I dispatched one of my veteran teams to track this guy down, but they all ended up with broken bones and bruises. The bastard even left a note.
It’s not polite to follow people, it said.
It was only fitting that I see to this person myself. After all, I told myself, no one interferes with the Black Assassin.
That’s when I got creative. I left empty safe houses scattered through the city, complete with discrete monitoring devices. Whenever someone was getting too cozy on my turf, I’d know about it. And it just so happened that one of those devices had been tripped this morning.
I finally had the bastard.
The guy had remodeled the safe house to resemble a fourth-floor apartment. It was clever, but it didn’t stop me from slipping in undetected. His ruse was clever, but I could see the apartment’s interior looked more like a hotel room than anything else. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to stay there. Whoever was staying here wasn’t planning on putting down roots.
One of my motion sensors was immediately tripped. Whoever I was waiting for was definitely here. I crept into the closet and looked through the grated openings at my new target. I desperately wanted to get a look at this guy.
You can imagine my surprise when a young woman walked in, wearing a sports bra and leggings, lugging a gym bag with her. I must have had the wrong room. I sighed, flustered under my Black Assassin armor. Had I completely misread this? Had a real estate agent mistakenly scooped up my safe house and put it out on the market?
Whoever the woman was, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She stood tall, with dark skin and a statuesque frame with firm muscles and taunt curves. I felt a little bit like a creep, observing her from the closest. She grabbed a towel and immediately disappeared into the bathroom. I emerged from the closet. This was my cue to leave, though I’m not ashamed to say that I briefly entertained the notion of sticking around, trying to explain what a heavily armed assassin was doing in her living room…and maybe asking for her number.
Then I realized that was probably a bad idea.
I was about to leave when I glanced down at her gym bag. I had assumed it was filled with weights. I was surprised when I pulled back the zipper to see swords and throwing stars, all lifted from Black Assassin agents. I knew the guy I was looking for wasn’t a guy at all. It had been this woman, all along.
I unsheathed my sword and crept towards the bathroom. I could hear the running water of the shower. I would slip
in, make it quick, and then slip out before anyone saw me.
The door was unlocked, so I slowly opened it. I could hear light humming coming from the shower. Wow, she has a pretty voice. I chided myself for that thought and remembered what I came here to do.
The shower curtain squeaked open. I turned to strike, only to see the woman standing there, fully clothed.
And holding a big gun.
She gave me an admittedly cute smile.
And then pulled the trigger.
The blast of energy lifted me off my feet and sent me crashing through the wall. The armor shielded me from most of my impact, but I remained dazzled none the less. But it wasn’t just from being shot through a wall. It was also from recognition, as I struggled to understand who was standing before me.
“Knockout?” I said.
I remembered her from our last meeting, the night Gary and Regi
na died. I also remembered her saving me from Izuki years before. She looked so small and tiny then, a far cry from the statuesque woman standing before me.
“I don’t want to fight you,” I said.
“You should have thought of that first,” she gave me a cruel smile. “You fucked up fucking with Knockout.”
She soared through the hole in the wall feet first, with her flying kick landing squarely in my chest. I brought down my sword, but she dodged it and then landed a blow to my neck. Already I could feel the armor working overtime to heal me from the damage.
“Fuck this,” I said after her next blow landed on my thigh, causing me to lunge forward.
I was done playing around. I threw my sword directly at her. She easily dodged the sword, not realizing my true motive. I watched as the sword landed in the wall behind her and then parried her next couple blows. Then I launched forward and jumped onto the sword, bouncing off of the hilt. I leapt into the air, twisting my body into position as I landed a solid strike on the left side of her face. She fell back from the blow.
I kept up my attack. I laid a blow to her stomach next, and as she bent forward from the blow, I grabbed her by the back of her neck and launched her into the adjacent wall. I caught her on the rebound and pummeled her into the wall a second time and then a third time.
If I could knockout Knockout, then maybe I could figure out what the fuck was actually going on.
“It’s. Over!” I growled through gritted teeth as I pushed her head into the wall twice more.
Knockout’s hand slapped the side of the wall. I looked on, a bit confused. Was she tapping out or something? I received my answer when the entire wall shuddered to reveal an arsenal of weapons. I saw Fire Capsules, Cyro Capsules, Power Pistols, and Knockout’s personal favorite, Power Gloves.
Her eyes must have fell upon the steel gloves at the same time mine did because she reached for them. I pulled her back instinctively, but she twisted my arm and then laid a blow right to my solar plexus. I stumbled back, gasping for air. Any lasting damage was quickly healed by the rejuvenating powers of the armor, but by then, it was too late.
She donned the power glove over both fists. I heard the whirling charge of the power gloves. I tried to angle my body to best receive the blow, but apparently either her or Frank made some modifications to the gloves, because the next blow sent me through yet another wall. I flew through the air and found myself buried in the bricks of the apartment building across the street. I saw the street below seconds before the bricks holding me to the building fell away, and I tumbled down four stories.
I could hear the armor whirling as it began to heal a broken spine, several broken ribs, internal bleeding and a broken collarbone. I struggled to stand, but Knockout landed right in front of me. I could hardly raise my fist, but it didn’t matter.
Her next punch shattered my mask.
And everything went black.
