Crunch.

A small, tiny sound.

The noise of a rock under someone’s foot, too fragile to handle the weight, crumbling.

Her eyes flashed open, to see slick metal, sharpened to a point, headed right down at her head. The speed at which she shifted her body away, gathered up and rewarded by her ceaseless training for years, allowed her to keep breathing, head intact.

Clang.

The blade hit the dirt where she once was. Bue scrambled up to her feet, and shouted at the top of her lungs as the person whirled on her again, swiping through the air unsuccessfully, but only by an inch.

“RED!”

Eyes shot open at the danger word.

Bue stopped their swing, blocking their arm with hers, when they attempted to swing at her again. The entrance was crowded as more bodies rushed in, weapons in hand and ready.

Lott blocked one of them from completing a two-pronged attack against Bue. She slammed them into the wall before grabbing them and throwing them toward the entrance. A few of the newcomers ducked, but the rest weren’t so lucky, considering the blade held by the thrown individual plunged into one of their allies as they all went down to the floor.

Slooky blocked an attack aimed his way and grimaced at the wet thwap sound the connection made. A quick chop against their dominant hand sent the dagger falling through the air. He caught the handle and thrust it up into them, wanting that disgusting wet feeling gone as soon as possible.

“Gross…” he muttered, shaking off his hand and arm.

The reason the Ghosts had come in, rather than walking around at the hottest hours of the day? It was so they wouldn’t end up like that. So soaked with sweat that merely touching something would leave a mark behind.

Yeah.

That wasn’t cool.

Something became clear, as soon as the attackers fanned out and took them on. Every last one…

Was ignoring Magnice, who sat on the floor.

To them, he was probably the weakest link, unable to walk or run away. An easy last kill. Little did they know, his arm muscles weren’t incapacitated. And he was angry about his rest being rudely interrupted.

The Ghosts might not have had weapons on them, not in abundance or their normal ones for fights like these, but there were loose rocks in caves.

Magnice palmed the closest rock, the size of a baseball, and he pitched it, hard, at one of their heads. Hit in the eye, the person stumbled back and out of the cave, trying to get their bearings, a hand to their face. But they moved just too far and there were sorely unprepared to make a misstep. They disappeared down off the edge of the cliff near the entrance, a surprised yelp was the last heard of them.

Sarah had a similar thought to Magnice on weapon choice, so when Slooky appeared to be taking the attention of someone, drawing them away from the others, dodging attacks, she grabbed her own rock and hit them from behind. When they went down, she tossed the rock over them to Slooky. One glance and the rock was sailing through the air, taking out another.

The last one to get up from Lott’s earlier attack was thrown back by a kick in the chest, sending them back outside the cave for a fight.

Meanwhile, Exel had managed to grab rope from his bag, lassoing one of their hands before relieving them of their weapon. It didn’t take much to bind them up with rope, saving the last bit for a nice little gag in their mouth. As he turned back toward the entrance, everyone was already frozen, staring at the worst possible sight.

The last one capable of fighting, the last of the assassin group, held one of the Ghosts in their grip, a blade nearly drawing blood at their throat.

Bue dropped the blades she retrieved from a nearby assassin. Lott held up her hands. Gritting his teeth, Slooky dropped the new rock in his hand.

“Step back!” they shouted.

Each of them took a measured step back, noting the panicked look in the man’s eyes. Provoking them was a bad call.

The man drew his knife away from Magnice’s neck and looked around the cave, pointing it at them all, counting them. For his part, Magnice was clutching onto the man’s arm, feet unable to touch the ground, not that it would help any. Slipping further in his grip would only make it harder to breathe.

“Four. Five…” the man said slowly. A chilling dread swept over him as he looked to the collection of bodies on the floor, only identifying his own people. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

He started to turn, fearing what he’d find standing there behind him. He didn’t get a full look at a furious Sarah before it was lights out darkness.

The bodies were all tossed over the cliff after a weapons search, following the path of the other two who’d fallen earlier. All except one, who remained gagged, tied up in the corner as the Ghosts all gathered in the cooler shade of the cave again. Panting, even from the short fight, was a result of the humidity gathered around. It almost felt like they were inhaling water with how sticky and heavy the air felt.

“How’d they find us?” Bue asked, looking around at everyone.

“We got rid of all our trackers.” Magnice felt his neck and shoulder as he leaned against the wall. “Right?”

The feeling of the air being sucked out of the room was even worse than it being thick. Everyone looked around at each other suspiciously as silence reigned.

But it wasn’t for long.

From the back corner of the cave came a buzzing sound.

Inside a bag.

Glances were given at the pack of items, but gazes were ultimately trained on one person. Magnice clenched his jaw as Slooky made a face. Lott shook her head.

Sarah was the first to move, holding out a hand, waiting.

“Dude. We got rid of our watches earlier,” Slooky said softly.

Exel grabbed his buzzing watch and put it in Sarah’s hand. The moment she could close her fist around it, she dropped it to the floor, driving her heel into it, silencing it for good.

“Bags in the center,” she said sternly.

Each of their bags were brought to the middle, things removed, linings checked by her and Magnice. Nobody fought against the order, just obediently put their things back in once it was done.

“Exel.”

“Yes, Vice-Captain.” Exel’s shoulders were drooped, his head ducked low, ashamed.

“We need to be careful.”

He nodded.

Sarah stared at him silently for a while, searching his face.

“I understand how it might slip your mind in the hectic time we’ve been having, but get yourself together. Now.”

Nodding again, he whispered a small apology, his voice trembling, eyes shining. Patting his shoulder once, she stepped away.

“Let’s go, before they send someone else.”

“But what should we do with him?” Bue asked, pointing at their spectator. The assassin Exel captured alive.

“We should take him with us,” Exel suggested slowly. “Find out everything we need to.”

“No.” Magnice’s head moved back and forth. “I’m not taking their tracker out.”

“It’s one tracker. We already have the device!”

“And are you going to take it out?” He snapped back at Exel. “Do you realize what it would do to him if I used that same device on him?”

“And you just want to let our only lead go?!” Exel shouted. “These people are trying to kill us! They might have a clue as to why!”

Slooky, watching them talk, stepped forward, frowning as he looked at Exel.

“Exel, is that why you conveniently forgot about your watch? To catch one of them?”

“So what if it was?” Exel stood taller, spreading his arms wide. “Don’t we need information on why we’re being attacked?”

“And what will you do when you know it?”

He turned back to Magnice.

“Then we can get rid of them.”

“Just ask your questions here. That tracker isn’t coming out,” Magnice reiterated. “I’d rather not see the results of what I know to be true.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“You want his brain scrambled before you ask questions?”

Scrambled?

There was a complete absence of sound, even from the assassin, as the words settled in to everyone’s minds. But, even so, hearing such a thing seemed ludicrous. Ruining their brain when all they were doing was removing a tracker? There was no true physical connection between those within the body. Nothing, except maybe through blood.

“What?”

“After consecutive uses,” Magnice said clearly, beginning to explain the process. “if it sits for more than an hour, when the tracker is removed from someone else, it leaks the components of both into their body, and the way they interact… it’s like a poison. He wouldn’t last five minutes.”

While the others shrugged it off as Magnice being all-knowing, Lott narrowed her eyes before meeting those of Sarah’s, both of them thinking the same thing.

How would Magnice know about it, especially if it was a product made from different items? Had he seen it tested? Had he tried it on someone else? Or was it just his brilliance, knowing without needing to physically see the results?

Maybe… it didn’t really matter, Sarah thought to herself. Maybe it wasn’t that important.

After spending the next half-hour attempting to get an answer out of them, Lott grabbed the biggest blade now in their possession and squatted down next to them. She tapped the blade and stared into the eyes of the one seated before her. Her question, however, wasn’t aimed at them.

“Which limb first?”

The person before her blanched, eyes widening, a murmured whimper escaping into the cave.

Exel grinned. “Arm.”

“Leg.”

“I second the leg.”

“Hand.” Magnice finished up.

They all looked to Sarah, who had her arms folded across her chest, uninterested. She shrugged.

“Just choose whichever you want, Lott.”

With a wide grin, curving her eyes just enough to look insane, she lifted the blade in her hand, ready to take that which she desired.

The assassins screeched at the top of their lungs, squeezing their eyes shut.

“STOP! STOP! I’ll give you an answer if you let me go.”

“Okay.” Lott crouched down, eye-level with them. “I have an easy question.”

The hope in the assassin’s eyes was quickly vanquished when the words were spoken. The so-called easy question was actually the worst one.

“Why are you after us?”

They gulped, weighing their options. Assassin they might have been, but upon facing mortality, upon coming face-to-face with these people, no, these nightmares, their mind was momentarily pushed into a numbness to reality.

Upon seeing the hesitation, Lott ran a finger down the blade slowly, letting their eyes follow her movements before she flicked it, startling them.

“Hand first, then.”

“Wait!”

The mission was a failure.

Their comrades were dead.

They had nobody and nothing… just like the Ghosts.

Alone.

But pain?

They didn’t want to live without a hand, an arm, or their leg.

Information was information.

The Ghosts were going to find it out anyway, right? Did it really matter if they came clean now on the little they knew?

If they could at least get one of these people to free them…

A series of thoughts popped into their mind.

What if…

They could pull off something impossible.

Alone.

What kind of reward might that bring?

Mortality forgotten along with morality in keeping their orders confidential, they let a trickle of greedy thoughts spur their voice.

“They – they said something about that.”

“Who’s they?”

“I – I don’t know who it was,” they lied skillfully, a bit of truth mixed in. “They used an automated voice. Sounded robotic. I didn’t see their face, alright?”

“What was it they said?”

“Um…” They momentarily lost their train of thought, taking note of the locations of items in the cave. Feigning having trouble thinking back while doing so, they jumped when the blade in Lott’s hand plunged into the ground next to them. They blurted out the truth. “Someone heard something! I don’t know what it was!”

“What?” Slooky tilted his head with a hard expression, trying to understand what the assassin was saying.

Exchanges of glances were done all around the cave, as they continued to speak.

“Someone… one of you. Knows something that you shouldn’t – I’m not sure what. Or who. That’s all I know! Please let me go.”

A glee, hidden well, filled them as Exel stepped forward and Lott moved away. He released their body from the rope. Slowly, their hand crept toward the hilt of a blade, just as Exel turned back toward the group.