Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Does our organization have a name?
Alvin had read the file Nightwing had sent him and knew that Elio was a Gotham orphan who had struggled from nothing to achieve a promising future. If nothing unexpected happened, he would accept an offer from a certain company and become an ordinary employee, working during the day and sleeping at night. His weekends might be spent playing online games with friends and going on picnics and shopping...
But the Templars' frame-up and pursuit destroyed all of this, just as they had destroyed Alvin and all the other assassins who had fallen victim to their murderous hands.
Alvin was silent for a moment. Then, he smiled casually and ruffled Elio's messy hair. Elio was unable to resist, but his green eyes rolled up and looked into Alvin's eyes in confusion.
"When you feel better," Alvin assured him, "I'll explain all this to you in detail."
"…I don't have any other choice," Elio buried his face back in the pillow, "Do I?"
"I'm afraid so," Arvin said. "As long as you want to live and make the Templars pay for what they've done—that's what you want to do, right? Tell me you're not a coward who runs away, kid."
Elio frowned, "Don't provoke me."
He heard Alvin chuckle, followed by the subtle friction of the bandages knotted on his body. Contrary to the assassin's blunt and sharp words, Alvin was very careful not to let his fingers touch his skin.
At any rate, Elio thought, he saved my life.
And the windbreaker that Alvin had just taken off for him was still hanging wet on the side.
"Does our organization have a name?" Elio asked.
Alvin raised his eyebrows and tied a final beautiful bow on him.
"Brotherhood," he said, "We are the Brotherhood of Assassins."
"Brotherhood..." Elio repeated.
"But it's not the Brotherhood of Mutants, make no mistake." Alvin covered Elio with a thin blanket. "Our main task is to fight the Templars. We'll talk about the details later. You need to receive training first, kid. You can't call yourself an assassin when you know nothing."
Elio, unable to move, turned his head on the pillow to look at him. Alvin was speechless for a moment, then patted his head awkwardly. "...After you've rested well. Go to sleep. I'll turn off the lights."
If Elio knew what was happening on the other side of Gotham on the same night he was being hunted by the Templars, he probably wouldn't have been able to sleep at all. Even though he couldn't sleep that night because he was covered in wounds, the pain had just subsided and the itching had returned; only at dawn did Elio manage to fall asleep for a few hours.
When he woke up, he found new bad news.
One of Elio's few friends, Graham Walker, has disappeared.
To make matters worse, the school had no idea where Willow went after school.
Elio, who refused to believe all this, insisted on going back to take a look. Alvin couldn't persuade him, so he had to accompany him to the shabby apartment in Gotham's East Side. Elio stayed in the empty apartment for a long time, so long that the assassin couldn't help but step through the door and see his silent profile.
"Was this also the work of the Templars?" Elio asked.
Alvin tried to gauge the young man's mood, but Elio's face showed no emotion, so he rubbed his chin. "I don't think they did it."
"You said our enemies were the Templars."
"Yes, but that doesn't seem like their style—"
This was the truth. According to Alvin's understanding, Templar agents were often meticulous and brutal. They would simply kill everyone, leaving at most an orphan to escape. They would never pull off such a bizarre disappearance.
But Elio knows nothing of this, and the Templars are the only enemies he can find.
"Who did all this?!" He suddenly raised his voice, "Who took them away!"
Alvin said nothing. There was no light in the room, but he saw tears welling in Elio's eyes.
“…It doesn’t matter if you kill me,” Elio said, covering his face. “Why did you kill the only family I have left…”
Tears fell from between his fingers.
Why was this happening? He wondered. Maybe he shouldn't have returned to Gotham, hoping for a better life. Then maybe he wouldn't have implicated Graham and Willow. Or maybe he shouldn't have arrested them, shouldn't have resisted... Then, he wouldn't have implicated anyone...
"Quiet."
Alvin's sudden whisper startled Elio. Footsteps were heard outside. Alvin quickly dragged Elio into the bedroom, but just as he closed the door, it was kicked open.
"I thought I heard some noise." said a sharp voice.
"Graham doesn't seem to live alone," a gruff voice said. "Check to see if anyone else is here."
They quickly split up. The two-bedroom apartment clearly indicated that at least two people lived there, and one of the bedrooms was clearly owned by a girl with excellent academic performance, with books neatly stacked on the table and a straight-A report card tucked between them.
"That's his sister?" said the shrill voice.
"I think so," the rough voice said. "Damn it, this little girl has much better grades than my little bastard. I really want to know how that illiterate Graham raised her."
The shrill voice joked, "You can ask him yourself."
"I won't go to that kind of place to die." A rough voice spat.
Behind the other bedroom door, Alvin and Elio, whose mouth he had covered, looked at each other.
'He's still alive,' Alvin said silently.
Elio nodded into his hand.
"So where did he go?" the sharp voice asked curiously. Then there was a dull thud and an "ow" sound, as if he had been hit.
"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask," the man who beat him scolded him harshly, "There was a shortfall in the batch of goods he was responsible for, and the boss used him to fill it! From what I know, there's still a big shortfall to fill. Do you want to fill it yourself?"
"Forget it." The sharp voice muttered angrily, and the footsteps moved away a little.
"Is there no one in the kitchen?" asked a rough voice.
"No. All the doors are open," the shrill voice said. "Except the bedroom."
Elio must have opened all the doors while he was looking for someone. Alvin released his hand from around Elio, palm facing up, and gently curled his fingers in his direction, motioning Elio to follow him. Elio nodded, and the assassin moved, darting to the window in the next second.
"Did you hear anything?" the rough voice asked his companion warily.
"It sounded like the windows were being blown by the wind."
They pulled out their guns. After a brief shove at the bedroom door, the sharp-voiced man kicked it open. The rough-voiced man swept the gun around, seeing no one.
"No one."
The shrill voice walked around the bedroom. He picked up a photo from the bedside table and took a look. It was just Graham and Willow. He looked up and was about to tell his companion to get some hot dogs after work when he saw the rough voice open the window and peek out.
"Did you find anything?" he asked, throwing down the photo in his hand.
"I think I saw something..."
Elliot almost made it to the rooftop. But his grip was unstable, and he dropped some rubble, nearly falling. Just when he thought he was about to fall, Alvin grabbed his arm and pulled him up steadily.
The rough voice looked up. But he saw nothing.
“…Maybe it’s my imagination.” He gave up.
"That's enough," the shrill voice said. "Call it a day, call it a day. My stomach's growling."
As they talked, they walked out of the dilapidated apartment. On the roof, a brown piece of clothing flashed by.
"They sound like they're coming for your friends," Alvin said. "You didn't get them hurt."
He crouched at the edge, his eagle-eyed gaze fixed on his target as he stepped onto the street. Elio followed his example, crouching beside the assassin.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Alvin glanced back at him and put his hood up. Elio's eyes were covered by the brim of the hat, leaving only the lower half of his face exposed.
"Now we will track their destination and find out the forces behind them," the assassin said. "Focus all your attention, and you will find..."
"They're gold," Elio wondered, "Why?"
"You already know how to use Eagle Vision? Very good," Alvin raised an eyebrow. "Gold represents 'target', and sometimes also represents 'interactable'. You'll notice that doctors and merchants are usually marked with gold. Red represents enemies, and green represents allies. Now, follow them, they're about to turn into that road."
The assassin stood up from the rooftop, tiptoed, and lightly jumped across the short gap between the rooftops. Elio did not follow immediately. He turned around and saw the hooded young man behind him hesitantly glancing down.
It’s a bit high, a height where you’ll get injured if you fall down.
"Don't look down," Alvin warned patiently, "it will only scare you."
Elio mustered his courage and leaped. He misjudged the width and stumbled forward, nearly falling into Alvin's arms. The assassin grasped his shoulders, steadying him in place.
"Isn't this great?" Alvin patted his back before letting go. "Let's go. I'll tell you everything on the way."
They moved across the rooftops, tracking their target. The rising moon illuminated their path.
"Yes, Eagle Vision is a gift that belongs only to us..."
"Climb up. Never worry about falling. Your blood will tell you what to do."
"…A Leap of Faith, that's its name. You leaped well, newbie. I'll teach you the specific fighting techniques another time."
"…you walk into an Abstergo hospital and tell the doctor you're seeing three-colored auras?"
Alvin stopped.
Elio replied awkwardly, "It's the nearest hospital to the school." He now understood the absurdity of his decision. But until now, he had always thought Abstergo was a normal, large corporation, like LexCorp! Who would have thought they were secretly conducting human experiments?
"You've done the same thing as walking into a Hydra compound," Alvin commented, "and telling them you've developed a formula to make you look like Captain America, but you don't know what to do with it."
"I'm not that stupid," Elio muttered.
On the street, the two targets walked into a bar with their arms around each other's shoulders.
Alvin laughed. When Elio looked at the half of his face that was exposed from beneath the hood, trying to find evidence of the smile, the assassin's lips had returned to a flat state.
"You're not stupid," Alvin said. "On the contrary, you're smart. You're just missing some pieces of information."
Elio followed his gaze down.
"...That's the bar where I work." As if a flash of inspiration had struck Elio, he suddenly realized, "They're probably members of the local gang!"
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