As night falls over Vale, the city is shrouded in an air of secrecy and intrigue. Unbeknownst to the general public, one of the councilmen, Finley Grey, is out on a walk. His destination or rather business, leads to a warehouse just at Vale's docks. He looks around and notices shipping containers spread out all over the docks along with scorch marks and pillars of ice that have exploded.

He comes across a dimly lit warehouse and straightens his tie. He goes to knock but feels a barrel press against the back of his head. He slowly turns to see a White fang soldier "What do you want human?"

Finley sighs with frustration plastered onto his face. He puts his hands up and speaks calmly "Your....human boss is expecting me." He states. The White fang soldier lowers his weapon slightly and looks the man up and down.

A realisation hits him "Wait...aren't you one of the councilmen for Vale?" He asks. The question is answered with a simple nod from Finley as he turns to face the soldier and gestures to the entrance of the warehouse by darting his eyes between the soldier and the door. The soldier eases up and tilts his head towards the door, signalling for the councilman to enter. Finley continues into the warehouse as the soldier closes the door behind him and stands guard.

Finley spots a table in the middle of the warehouse with a light hanging over it. He notices more guards on the catwalks looking down at him as they patrol. He takes a seat and makes himself comfortable. A click followed by some sparks in front of the table catches the councilman's attention. A small flame gives light to the dark before being held up to a cigar, slightly showing the face of the user. Roman Torchwick.

The criminal steps into the light and smiles "Finley. How's the wife and kids?" Finley doesn't say a word. He simply gestures to the chair on the other side of the table to which Roman kicks out and sits. "Look, if it's about the dust, don't worry. We've been taking our cut. The other half unfortunately is being taken by another party so....that's your security's problem."

Finley raises a brow to this "The same security in which I have to replace after every raid you and your group do?" He questions.

Roman looks up and blows raspberries while blowing smoke out his nose "...Yes."

Unknown to the two and the rest of the White fang guards. The soldier that stopped Finley at the door was now dead with his neck sliced open.

"We have four months till the festival begins, the Dust that is needed for both your people and the festival from what I'm hearing is slowly going down the drain. Which means the cover that you and your people promised my people so we could leave Vale is also going down the toilet!" Finley stands and shouts the last part which cause the guards to stop and look down at the scene.

Especially the guard on top of the roof who was looking down from the skylight "Jeez he's pissed." The guard acknowledges. Suddenly, he hears what sounds like a blade unsheathe and looks behind only to see a figure cover his mouth and jab a blade through his throat which shatters his Cervical vertebrae.

The figure pats the body down until feeling a spherical object. He pulls it out and finds a grenade. He puts it in his pocket and enters through the skylight and latches onto the beams. He slowly starts moving across slowly as the councilman and the criminal mastermind keep talking.

"What even happened?" The councilman asks with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

Roman leans in after taking a puff of his cigar "I'll tell you what happened. That terrorist that's been beaching all the boats. She's here!"

The councilman looks at Roman surprised while the figure above them stops and looks down. "I'm sorry. What the hell do you mean 'she's here'?"

Roman sits back and blows smoke out his mouth "We worked with one of them against her. Y'know, terrorist versus terrorist. Fighting fire with fire...although it was water and-"

Finley slams his hands on the table "Did you take them both out after?!" He asked.

"No...we didn't." Roman answers as he slowly backs away from the table.

"And why...Not?!" Finley shouted as his anger grew.

"The one that helped us was a good kid. As for the other, I think they captured her and she's being dealt with as we speak." Roman calmly explains.

The figure above them pulls out the grenade and looks at a container in the corner.

"Y'know what. I have too much on my hands to even ask where they may be. I want you to know that my master isn't happy about the position you've put us in now." Finley explains as he stands up.

"What position? You're still a councilman. You're as safe as they come." Roman states while standing up also.

"Coming here was a mistake. I told the grandmaster that we should have just called." Finley turns to the door.

"Monty Oum, what's got you spooked?" Roman follows after him.

The figure triggers the grenade and tosses it at the container before swinging onto the catwalk which makes a loud clanging noise that echoes through the warehouse. Roman and Finley look around before the grenade goes off, blowing up the container and the dust inside causing a chain reaction. The explosion blows a hole in the wall and causes the catwalk to come loose. The white fang guards all scream in surprise as they fall from the catwalks. Some being unfortunate and falling into the fire created by the explosion.

The figure drops from the catwalk as it begins to fall and lands on the table in the middle of the room. Finley's eyes widen as he watches the figure stand and face his direction. The figure wore a black hoodie with blue stripes on his arms and the back of the hoodie. He also wore a visible belt with a holster carrying a gun on the right of his hip while there were small knives on the left side of his belt with a folded sword attached just on top of them. He also wore dark blue pants and black running shoes.

Roman aims his cane at the newcomer and fires. The hooded person dodge rolls as the explosion adds more chaos in the warehouse. Finley tries to open the door but can't due to the body of the White fang soldier with his neck slit, blocking the door. He looks around until he spots the office and goes towards it but grunts in pain as the hooded figure pulled out his sidearm and shot Finley in the leg. Roman looks at the now wounded council member then back to the hooded intruder who puts the gun away and pulls out the folded sword. With a flick, the blade comes out of the hilt as the figure readies to fight.

Roman watches the fire grow and starts to weigh his options. Before long, he sighs deeply and silently says "Fuck it." He immediately books it to the office leaving Finley to his fate.

"Don't leave me you coward!" Finley pleas to the criminal. He looks at the hooded figure approach and sees some of the white fang guards that survived. "Hey! Faunas!" His shouting gets the attention of the men "Kill the Assassin! Do it and I can assure you that you will be rewarded handsomely! I AM a councilman after all!" He desperately tries to bargain.

The Assassin looks at the men who look at him in exchange. The white fang guards stare at the assassin and growl before pulling out their own swords. The assassin steps towards them as they begin to circle him. One goes to attack but the assassin parries and counter attacks by kicking the guard in the back of the leg then stabbing him in the throat.

The other guards attack despite seeing their comrades gruesome death. Clashes of steel reverberate through the warehouse.

The dim light casts eerie shadows on the four as Finley starts to crawl away and make it to the office. The Assassin moves with grace, effortlessly dodging strikes and countering with deadly precision. Delivering cuts and jabs at every opening he sees.

As the battle rages on, the fire ignited by the explosion continues to spread, casting an ominous glow across the warehouse. The crackling flames create a dense atmosphere making it nearly impossible to breath.

The assassin dodge rolls away from the surrounding White fang and reaches into his satchel, pulling out a red dust crystal. As the white fang guards make their way towards the assassin, the assassin inserts the crystal into the bottom of the swords hilt, causing it to glow orange as steam then began to flow from it.

The white fang raise their swords to finish off the assassin but in a swift motion, the assassin prompts himself on his right foot and kicks his left foot causing him to spin around and cleanly slice through each guard's stomach.

The guards stand in shock before dropping their swords and falling to the ground dead. The assassin stands up and walks towards Finley who is nearly to the office. Finley looks behind and sees his approaching doom nearly reach him.

He turns and starts to crawl on his palms as he watches the assassin flick the folded sword after the orange glow brings to die down, and place it on his hip.

The assassin crouches down to his level and grabs him by the collar of his suit. "We knew you were here assassin! It was only a matter of time before we finally snuffed you out." Finley says with a smirk despite his current position. The assassin says nothing and grabs the chain around Finley's neck and pulls on it. He eventually frees the Red Cross pendent from the councilmen's neck and narrows his eyes. "Now the Templar's will know your here. Know to sleep with one eye open every night. After we succeed with our plans. This era, will be the one where your brotherhood die-"

He is cut off as the assassin stabs him in the throat with a wrist mounted blade. The assassin pulls his hidden blade away from the dead man's throat. He then coated the necklace's charm with blood then placed it in his pocket. Sirens caused his head to perk up as he looks towards the front door then at the fire. The flames have spread too much. The assassin looked up and saw the skylight that he entered from.

He looks around until a catwalk collapsed to his right. He scans the catwalk and the path it would lead him on and smirked. He runs up the collapsed catwalk and scales up the rest of the way, digging his fingers into sizeable gaps in the catwalk and leaping onto the beam. He starts to overhang climb on the beam before reaching the skylight and getting onto the roof. He scans his surroundings. He sees a truck carrying a shipping container and stares at it as it starts to drive close to the warehouse. He gets himself in a starting position before sprinting to the edge of the roof and jumps off, landing on the container with a loud thud.

He takes a deep breath before lowering his hood revealing his dark blue hair and pitch black that stare at the docks. He breaths out a sigh of relief and decides to enjoy the ride.

'Azure Stone. You're one lucky son of a bitch.' Azure thinks to himself before pulling out the bloodied Red Cross necklace. Finley's words echo in his mind. The era where the brotherhood dies?

Finding a new purpose to his visit Vale. It was time for him to report to his brothers and sisters back home. It seems like this little expedition just became a plot to uncover what the Templars are planning and just what they have, that could put and end to the brotherhood.
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Until next time :)