The Saga Of The Emptiness Harbinger - Chapter 6 Special Meeting

“Hector, where are we going next?” Blues asked.

“Blues, we’re going to the edge of the continent to hunt down mutants as always.” answered Hector.

After our initial meeting, the Griffpax SF squad reported back to their commander via radio. They told him that they have found a colleague from Pangrasian SF and asked what to do with me.

So I ended up tagging along. It is useful for consolidating my strength anyway, but it looks like I’m doing most of the work on those missions.

And I’m not paid for it.

“Um, guys?” called Victor. He is the cold weapons specialist in ‘our’ team, currently on watch duty on the perimeter.

“What is it, Vic? We’re busy here, trying to determine where are we going next.” answered our squad drunkard… *cough* I mean our radio operator.

“We have company.” Victor added

I got up and stretched my back.

“OK, lads. I’ll go check it out with Vic. You stay and prepare for the worst, as always.”

Victor hurried me:

“Hurry up I’m on the northern side.”

We walked fast and in silence for a few hundred meters. I stopped because Victor lifted his right arm from behind the bush, prompting me to do it. But of course, I didn’t listen. I jumped and caught a branch of a tree that was above us. I lifted myself up and heard Victor hissing at me from below:

“Get down here! Do you want to be found out?”

“Trust me, I have an ace up in my sleeve.” I hissed back.

“Ok then. But I cannot cover your sorry ass later if you’re too far away, ya know.” He said in a low, worried tone.

Then a strong, familiar voice came from the forest in front of us:

“Who are you guys hiding from? We ain’t gonna eat you.”

‘What the heck is this? How did they find us?’ I panicked since our stealth abilities are above average. We should be invisible and untraceable. Yet we were found on the second day of our camping in this place.

“Who are you?!” I jumped down from the tree I was hiding at and yelled.

“Is it possible that you don’t remember me, Shorty?” Said the voice.

Since I yelled, guys that were left back in the camp sneaked in around us. Victor whispered:

“That’s your ace from the sleeve? Calling our comrades out. You really are a resourceful bitch, Shorty.”

Then the moonlight shined into my face. Its source wasn’t the moon directly, it was reflected from a face-like metal mask. My brain started hurting. I didn’t see one of them in fifteen years. I grabbed my head with both hands since it felt like its gonna burst.

“A headache, eh? Well, it is ought to happen when u see someone after nearly sixteen years of traversing the universe, Shorty.” The Nameless said. Every time he said my name my head pulsated.

‘How the fuck can he know of the time I spent in the Core forces. Technically, I just went there, it’s impossible for them to know the exact time I spent there.’ my brain started working extremely fast trying to find out who this guy is.

Also, I couldn’t help but think of numerous questions that will be asked by Victor and the others.

Then I was hit by enlightenment. It must be the Nameless guy from before the attack on the SF base. Well, it could also be any other Nameless guy since they’re all the same and share the same knowledge. While my mind was filled with all sorts of theories about how this bastard is aware of my life so far. Yet again I thought about my current comrades and their reaction. Ordinary people of Gronos do not like the Core at all. They would try to kill me. Again.

“Who are you, tin-face?” Asked Blues.

“Eh, people are so uncreative when it comes to naming things, don’t you think.” the Nameless said while shaking his head. The answer came from behind him:

“Looks like they are, tin-face.”

“Haha, very funny tin-face” answered the first Nameless.

“How many of you are here? Answer me or I’ll make it one less.” Said Hector, while taking aim at one of the masked men.

“Pfft. You think I’m afraid of your puny little gun? Don’t make me laugh, bitch.” a Nameless snorted and moved a few steps towards Hector. Hector pulled the trigger and shot him in the chest, a few centimeters from the heart. The Nameless stumbled a few steps back and coughed some blood.

“Not bad bitch. But I can do better.” he said while taking out a rifle and shooting at Hector. Hector reacted before the assassin blew his brains out. He shot a stream of bullets at his chest and head, but they just bounced off his mask and bulletproof suit.

Hector got his brains spread all over the forest floor. Any ordinary guy would feel sick seeing this. But 15 years of carnage throughout the galaxy did their thing so I kept my dinner in.

“What the fuck, dude!” Victor screamed and bumped his shoulder into the guy that killed Hector. He then activated his pen and transformed it into a sword, which he swung at the other guys head. First Nameless blocked with his own sword and took out a knife which he stabbed into Vic’s ribs. Vic roared and pushed himself away from the assassin. While doing so, he lifted his arm as if he wanted to slash down with his sword. Point is, he is too far to reach him with his sword.

The Nameless also took a step back and readied himself for a counterattack. Nobody noticed that Victor’s sword vanished into thin air, just to be replaced by an ax as long as Vic himself. Its blade made a nasty sound while tearing the Nameless’ head apart.

Victor started to laugh.

“The bastard didn’t expect that, huh? Best assassins in the world my ass.”

“Hmpf” the remaining assassin snorted while blowing Vic’s brains out.

I then moved to attack the assassin. But while doing so something hit me in the head and I fell unconscious to the ground.

I woke up after an unknown period of time. I was lying on the couch in someone’s living room.

‘Here we go again.’ I thought as I stood up. ‘Is this even real? Is my luck that bad that I always end up unconscious when I need to kill some bitches?’

I started walking towards a window in order to see where did I end up today. Let’s see: skyscrapers here and there, buildings made out of concrete. Imperial Guards on the streets.

Hmm, just like the middle capital of Pangras. That means I’m relatively close to my nonexistent home.

“Do you like the view?” I heard a female voice say behind me. I turned around to see who it might be. I was surprised to see a shiny metal face look directly into mine from just a few centimeters away.

Startled I moved back and hit the wall with my back. My mind was racing, she was wearing civilian clothes that fitted her well. Except for that Nameless mask. She couldn’t be a Nameless, right? I mean I never heard of a female assassin before, let alone a female Nameless.

“I bet that you are confused by this mask being on a woman? Or do you suffer from PTSD? I mean your whole squad was pretty much butchered in front of you. So I figured that Anonymous’ masks would be in your nightmares. So what is it?” she talked fast, but I caught every word she said thanks to the clearness of my mind. I calmed down, gave myself a mental slap on the face for overreacting and said:

“Well, miss, I can assure you that I’m not suffering from PTSD.”

“Ok, then it must be the first reason, right?”

“I actually don’t care.” I shrugged and tried to move away from her so that I could have to get some space for thinking.

‘Did it become a little warmer here, or am I going crazy? I must be going crazy, it can’t become warmer out of nowhere.’

She sidestepped, blocking my path.

“What is it now?” I asked.

“You know which city is that, don’t you?” she answered with a question while pointing through the window. This way of answering a question with a question is starting to annoy me.

“Yeah, I know. This is Argos Medius.” I said in an irritated voice. “And what with that?”

“Do you know why you are here?” she continued with her questioning.

“I just woke up in here after being knocked out in a forest over fifty thousand kilometers away. How the fuck would I know why I am here?”

‘This conversation is starting to be increasingly irritating. If it continues this way I’ll need to use force to stop it.’ I thought while sighing. This way it’s gonna end badly.

“Well, it was actually the Emperor of Griffpax who paid us for the job, you know. He wanted to have a talk with you, but first, he wanted to know more about you so he bought the info from us. Our organization sold him all the information we had on you for quite an amount of money. He then ordered us to bring you to Argos because he had to come here to have a diplomatic dinner with his cousin, the Pangrasian Emperor. Who, by the way, also wants to meet you.” She explained while moving away and sitting on a sofa on the other side of the room. Next to the sofa was a table on which stood a bottle with unknown contents and two glasses. Other pieces of furniture in the room were the bed I was lying on just a few minutes earlier and a bunch of chairs. There is only one window in this room, no doors or anything else that could be used as an escape exit since we are on the fourth floor.

“You’re not gonna find a way out from here. This is the Anonymous’ branch office for Argos Medius. Only our members and special guests are allowed into these chambers usually.” She said when she noticed me looking around.

“So I guess I’m a special guest then?”

“No. You’re a job. We were paid to keep you safe and bring you to the meeting when needed. That means that you’re stuck here with me until the Emperors are done with you.”

“And, what is your status in the Anonymous?”

“That is pretty much the worst question that you can ask a Nameless assassin, you know. I could kill you right now for trying to find out things our rules forbid and hide. That’s why we are Nameless you know, for the protection of the members.” she seemed surprised by my question.

“But how much harm can I do by knowing your rank in this branch office. I don’t know your name nor your looks. So I’m not actually endangering you in any way.” I answered using logic.

She burst out laughing. She laughed until she was out of breath (or even until the tears started flowing). Then she spoke, still trying to catch a breath:

“Y-you think you could harm me, hahaha. That’s the best joke that I’ve heard for a long time.”

Then she did something interesting.

She took off her mask.

My heart stopped.

I know that face.