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The Creed

Chapter 5: Workaholic

Avitus rose from his couch, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The small alarm he placed beside his head on the table was buzzing annoyingly. He slammed a hand down on it, silencing the infernal machine. Once more he had stayed up late, reading up on history, and still he had not found any hint of the possible existence of either the Assassins or the Templar. He was close to giving up hope. History was so dense that he would most likely spend his entire life looking. Perhaps he should just resign himself to the most likely truth that there was nothing to find.

Muttering tiredly, he sat up straight on the couch, eyeing the clock.

6:30

In an hour and a half he would have to leave the apartment and head to work. His stomach grumbled loudly and he was reminded that he had not eaten since that sandwich the day before. Standing up from the sofa, he cracked his spine and groggily made way his bedroom. He entered the chamber and saw a lump curled up under the sheets. He smiled as he remembered who was there.

The man stepped over to the bulge and rocked it, eliciting a groan from the bed. "Five more minutes." A tired voice demanded and the sheets ruffled.

"Afraid not," Avitus refuted with an amused chuckle. "We both have to work today, and I know how long it takes for you girls to freshen up."

A paw flashed out of the covers and bopped his face softly.

"No."

"Very well, you have made you choice." He said gravely, placing his hands on the bed and lifting the mattress.

The feline yowled in consternation and flopped to the carpeted ground in a tangle of limbs and fur. He chortled at her expense and watched as she disentangled herself. She sat on the floor and looked up to him with a dissatisfied gleam in her dark green eyes. "Nice sense of hospitality." She muttered sardonically. His laughter only increased and she suddenly curled up before pouncing at him like an uncoiled spring.

Fiona collided with his muscled chest and managed to knock him to the ground. After that she tried to wrestle with him playfully, and she emerged victorious. Avitus decided to let her win, as compensation for his rude awakening.

She sat atop his stomach, grinning triumphantly at her overpowered prey, exposing a gleaming rack of needle-like teeth. "Looks like you need more training mister security man." The feline boasted playfully.

"Sure." He rolled his eyes looking unamused. But the truth was that he rather enjoyed the little fight. It was not often he got to goof off. Back in his previous world, he was far too busy fighting to allow time for fun. So he decided to milk what he could out of this moment, there was no telling when he would get another chance.

"And you need to lay off the éclairs." He retorted jokingly, poking her pleasantly soft plushy belly.

"And lose my advantageous weight? Not a chance!" She declared feistily, poking his hard muscles in return, with her paw. "Perhaps you need to eat more!"

"Alas...." He sighed dramatically. "I must stay fit otherwise I would be out of a job. Maybe after I retire, I will stuff my face every day!" He rolled her off and stood up, helping her to her padded feet. "But until that time comes, I will have to be satisfied with this." He patted his flat abs, mock forlornly.

She giggled at that and they both walked out of the bedroom. Fiona got the first shower and he the second. Afterwards the man changed clothes, prepared breakfast for them both, and got ready for work. Since her place was still locked, she had to wait until after work to get new clothes from her apartment. Until then she would have to make do with her day's previous clothing.

After breakfast, he offered to give her a ride to work and they both arrived in time as the doors were just opening. Fiona gave one last smile and wave before heading to her place and getting set up. The Assassin on the other hand, picked a corner and sat down on a chair, reading a newspaper he found in the bank. This was his second week working at this particular bank, and because of Fiona, it was not as much as a drag as he thought it would have been.

Soon, the hours began to drag by, not much exciting went on in a bank. Most of the day it was deathly silent and smelt of paper and ink. Around noon he got up from his chair and stretched, heading to the room in the back. He stepped inside the little employee room. It had a microwave, small fridge, table, and chairs. Avitus opened the fridge and removed a frozen meal, placing it in the microwave and inputting the time. While he waited for the meal to reheat he sat on one of the chairs and began to think.

Life had becomes so....mundane. It was hard to switch from being an Assassin, always on the run, hiding under countless fake names and stories, to living a life without the fear of being uncovered and hunted like some sort of rabid animal. This was the first time he had been able to live in one place for more than four days. Back then he was continuously moving around towns, states, and even countries, wherever it was that the order needed him. Not to mention he could actually socialize with people, something he had been deprived of for many years. It was hard to make friends when one never lingered in one place, that wasn't even factoring the fact that any friends would soon become targets.

The microwave beeped, jarring him out of his thoughts and sending him to his feet. He walked over to the machine and opened in, taking out the reheated pizza. He brought it back to the table and sat down, beginning to eat.

Shortly thereafter, the door to the room opened again and three people entered. One was Fiona, and the other two was a weasel and mouse. He knew little more than their names and talked only a handful of times, Michael and Hillary.

Both of them were also tellers for the bank and seemed to be close friends of Fiona. He watched as they entered the room, chatting about whatever it was that occupied their attention. The three started to make their own food, oblivious to the silent man eating at the table. Eventually, Michael, the weasel, turned from the fridge and was the first to spot him. He flinched slightly in surprise and quickly smiled and gave a small wave. "Hi there Avitus, I didn't see you there."

He simply waived back in greeting, taking another bite of his meal. Fiona heard his name and flipped around with a broad and happy grin. She always seemed so happy to see him. "Hello Fiona, how was your day so far?"

"Good, a little drearier than usual, but then again that's life." She shrugged and grabbed the bag of food she had and brought it to the table with the others.

He nodded in agreement and resumed his ponderous devouring of the poor pizza in his grasp. He sat at the table as the three friends talked, only keeping a token presence in their conversation. Avitus was not always a talker. Sometimes he preferred to remain silent and let others have their fun.

Soon though, the lunch hour ended and they all had to go back to their respective tasks. But as they all left, Avitus froze in surprise as Fiona gave him a quick and unexpected hug, saying goodbye and walking out of the door a little later.

After collecting himself he attributed it to their close friendship and dismissed it as a normal gesture. Outside the break room, he saw that there was a small influx of customers, a little more than usual for a Monday. Yet the tellers seemed to have everything in order and so he journeyed back to his chair far from the main floor and resumed his glorious task of sitting.

He picked up the newspaper once more and began to shuffle through it. It would seem that crime had raised to an all-time high as of late, rashes of theft, murder, kidnapping, extortion, drugs, and illegal weapons flooded the city. The local police and Interpol seem to be unable to keep up with the overflow of criminal activity. It is uncertain as to whether army units would soon be mobilized and martial law declared. All anyone knew for certain was that a single gang was responsible for this, they were called The Anarchists, and people feared that they were a reiteration of the dreaded klaww gang, once thought to have been ousted by efforts of Interpol, or more specifically, Inspector Fox.

Avitus frowned as he read the paper.

He had dealt with many crime syndicates in his time, and never had he encountered one so vile. They seemed to have a hand in every type of criminal enterprise. In fact, they were more along the lines of a militant force than a gang. They were responsible for much of the evil that went unopposed in this city and Interpol seemed to be ill equipped for stopping them.

As he was reading the paper, he heard a disruptive commotion in the foyer of the bank and lowered the paper. What he saw made him frown in consternation, it would seem that five individuals were trying to perform a bank heist, and that just would not do.

"EVERYBODY DOWN!" The lead antagonist bellowed, firing a burst of gunfire into the ceiling. All five of them were dressed in what he could only assume to be heavy armor of some sort, and they had a variety of automatic weapons. Their features were hidden by their masks and their voices were distorted by some sort of modulator.

Many of the civilians screamed in fear and complied, lying on the floor and whispering to each other. The five bank robbers spread out, three heading to the teller booths and two staying with the hostages. So far they had noticed the man sitting at a chair in the back. Avitus would have dispatched them, post-haste, but he had to be careful of civilian casualties.

"Just stay down and no one gets hurt, don't try to be a hero, we tend to kill those." One of the robbers spoke as he walked among the terrified people, watching them like a hawk. The Assassin noticed that his companion was exuding reluctance, and holding his rifle improperly, probably a new recruit, and young.

Avitus sat in his chair and watched as the three other criminals began to harass the tellers. He saw Fiona, terrified, as the three began to order her and her friends around. The Assassin scowled and stood up from his chair, walking towards the two near the door.

The more experienced criminal spotted him and whipped his weapon in his direction. "What are you doing, I said stay down!"

The Assassin nodded and slowed to a stop in front of him. "Yeah, you also said no one be a hero. So I wanted to give you these, to show you that I don't want any trouble." The Assassin slowly opened his jacket and revealed his two handguns, keeping his blade hidden. The two bank robbers watched, dumbfounded, as he handed over his two weapons.

"You stupid or something?" The robber demanded as he hastily snatched the weapons from the Assassin's hands.

"No." Avitus replied. "I just don't need them."

'Whatever freak, just get down!"

Avitus complied and went to sit on the floor, running a plan through his head. Now the targets believed he was no longer a threat, and he could enact his plan. First step would be to divide them.

"What are you doing here kid?" He asked the obviously young and inexperienced fellow.

"W-what are you talking about?" The kid stuttered. From the sound of his voice, he could be no older than seventeen, maybe even fifteen, a new hire and most likely fodder. They had probably seduced him with promises of easy cash and luxury.

"A kid like you shouldn't be here. You got family?"

The masked kid shook his head uncertainly.

"Shut up! No talking!" The other thug growled threateningly.

Avitus ignored him and continued, watching as the other three began to tack the money from the teller booths. "So you got no one to take care of you? On your own huh, and with this crowd no less?"

"I said no talking!" The other robber smashed the butt of his rifle into the Assassin's face, knocking him to the floor.

Avitus went quiet, but he could see the conflict in the kid's posture, his body kept shifting and he held his weapon loosely. The Assassin switched his focus to the other guy, watching him carefully as the sound of police sirens began to echo within the building. This one had to be taken out swiftly. His stance became erratic as the sirens picked up and he shifted, not with uncertain, but with imminent violence. He would soon do something drastic, and death could be the only result.

As the other three began to pick up their loot, one of them separated and went to the vault and began to lay squares of explosives on the massive steel door in the back. It looked like these guys were in it for the long haul.

All in all, there were five targets, one of them malleable. He could probably convince the kid to give up peacefully, leaving just the four more die-hard heavies. The red and blue flashes of the police lights began to strobe in through the panned windows and they could hear he chatter of radios.

"Shit, what do we do man?" One of the guys cursed, shaking his rifle.

"Stick with the plan, we can do this!" The armed man with the bags of money retorted angrily. 'Keep it together!"

Seconds later the bank shuddered as the explosives blew the vault doors open and two of the guys went inside, even as the smoke began to clear. Avitus could hear clattering as they rifled through the contents of the massive safe.

The Assassin sat back up and looked for Fiona, spotting the cat in a corner where she had been dragged. She turned to him with a fearful glance and he returned it with a confident smile and a wave. "W-what are you doing?" The kid standing next to him whispered with pseudo authority, trying to sound tough.

Avitus turned to him, still smiling. "Just trying to cheer my friend up, you guys are quite the fearsome sight. You plan on killing anyone?"

The kid sounded mortified. 'N-no way man! They told me we were just going to be in and out, no death, just taking money that's all!"

"And when they want to start killing hostages?"

"That's not going to happen!" The kid vehemently denied, although his voice waivered uncertainly. "I'm sure it won't...."

"This is Inspector Fox, from Interpol! We demand that you release the hostages!" A very familiar voice called over a loud speaker.

At the sound of the female vixen, the bank robbers became visibly agitated. "Fuck, not that bitch!" One of them moaned.

The leader spoke up grimly. "We need to take a stand, grab one of the hostages, we kill one of them, and then they'll know we're serious."

"B-but boss!" The kid stuttered. "You said no one would get hurt!"

"Shut it newbie! Your job is to stay on the hostages and keep them quiet, you fail in that and we'll kill you instead!" The older male growled, making the kid quiver and nod frightfully.

The guy standing beside the kid looked around and started to head over to Fiona. As she saw him heading over, she mewled.

"If I may, can I make a suggestion?!" Avitus called out suddenly, standing up. "How about you all put your guns down and give your selves up before someone gets hurt."

The leader chuckled darkly and turned to face him. "And why is that, freak?"

"Well, I would hate to have to kill all of you. It would be rather annoying to get blood on my clothes, I just bought them and they were quite expensive, custom made if you must know." Avitus replied as he stood there with a jovial smile adorning his face, picking at is clothes.

The leader scoffed and looked to his cohorts. "Is this guy for real?"

"Yeah boss, he was mouthing off earlier." The guy standing beside Fiona declared.

"Huh, bring him to the front and kill him instead. Let's see if he's still laughing then." The boss muttered, gesturing for two of his guys to grab him.

They grabbed him by each arm and began to force him to the front of the building, the Assassin still smiling. They dragged him to the front of the building and opened the doors, standing him in front, using the man as a shield.

Avitus took in the sight of several police cars, and a line of officers. He spied out Carmelita in the front with a bull horn; she flinched somewhat at seeing him but recovered swiftly.

"Let the hostages go, and we will be lenient on you!" shouted at the two thugs behind him.

"Not a chance bitch!" One of them retorted with a chuckle.

"We are going to make an example of this joker here. All the other hostages will end up like him if you try anything funny!" The other stated seriously.

He pressed the muzzle of a pistol to the back of the Assassin's head and pulled the trigger as the vixen shouted for them to stop.

Yet instead of carving through skin, flesh, and bone, it sliced through open air. For the Assassin was no longer standing there. A snap of bone was heard after the gunshot as the first assailant fell, head twisted at an odd angle.

Avitus flowed around the other thug even as he looked to his friend in shock, and grabbed the arm holding the pistol, punching the elbow. A crack and the gun fell from limp fingers as he cried out in shock and pain. But he was quickly silenced as the Assassin snatched the handgun out of the air and rammed it under the man's chin, pulling the trigger, splattering blood all over him and the ground. The body slumped to the floor beside his cohort and the Assassin dropped the gun disdainfully, trying to brush the blood off his clothes, to little effect.

He looked to the police line and Carmelita, and preformed a little bow. Then, unceremoniously, he swiveled around and walked back into the bank.

"Did you blast that mother fu...?" The guy standing near the door turned and trailed off as he saw the blood covered man walk inside.

"They ran into some unexpected difficulties." The Assassin replied smoothly.

The thug stumbled backwards and reached for his rifle, but before he could do anything there was a flash of movement and a thirteen inch blade hilted itself in his throat. The robber gurgled and clutched at his neck as it spewed crimson blood.

Avitus casually strolled past him and plucked the blade from the falling body, flicking it and dispersing the blood in an arc on the white marbled flooring. That just left the big boss and the kid.

The Assassin entered the main foyer and turned to see the kid and the boss, both aiming their weapons at him, but one of them waivered.

"What the fuck are you?!" The leader demanded heatedly.

"I'm just guy in the wrong world, at the right time." Avitus answered simply.

"Screw it, let's waste this guy!" The masked male growled, but at that his comrade backed up. He turned to him in anger and bewilderment. "You gonna back out now?"

"I can't do this, it's not right." The kid muttered, letting his gun fall to the floor.

"I'll just kill both of you then!" The guy growled, turning his weapon on the kid. But before he could pull the trigger a blade slammed into the center of the gun and rendered it useless.

The robber growled and tossed the gun to the floor, looking to the Assassin. "Your dead mother fucker!"

Avitus walked over to the thug, still smiling, as the enemy charged forwards, aiming a fist at the man's face with all of his might. The Assassin caught the closed fist and placed it high in the air, ramming his own into the target's armpit.

The thug grunted and moved to hit him with his other limb and the Assassin weaved under it, delivering a kick to his knee and shattering it. The criminal howled in pain and fell to the ground. But the Assassin caught his descent, wrapping his arms around his prey's neck and following him down.

He was no longer smiling.

"Somnus in morte." Avitus whispered and twisted his arms violently. There was a spine crawling series of cracks, and he released the body, letting it drop to the floor. The Assassin stood up from the body and turned to the kid, who was looking at him in blatant fear.

"You should find a better means of employment." Avitus suggested, walking over to one of the bodies and retrieving his handguns, which he had not needed.

The kid bobbed his head rapidly and quickly dropped to the ground, placing his hands behind his head and thanking god that he still lived.

Avitus holstered his guns and walked over to Fiona, helping her up to her feet. "I trust you are unharmed?" He inquired.

The feline nodded numbly and looked to him in awe. "That was amazing!" She squeaked.

"That is why they pay me." Avitus replied as he grabbed a few random papers from the lobby table and began to pat down his clothes. As the people began to stand up a force of heavily armed officers rushed inside. They were accompanied by none other than Carmelita Fox and detective Winthrop.

The Assassins smiled cheerfully and walked over to them, tossing the blood stained papers on the floor. "Hey there Carmelita, looks like everything worked out eh?"

She stopped a few feet from him, watching him with an odd look on her muzzle. "I have a feeling that there is a lot of your past that you left out."

"Everyone's entitled to their secrets." Avitus responded with a pleasant grin, but the warning was still there. Somethings were better left uncovered. "Perhaps I'll tell you some of them one day."

The vixen's ears twitched in agitation, but she let it drop....for now. "Alright then Avitus, have it your way. But you will tell me someday."

"Maybe, perhaps even over lunch today." He looked to the bank as officers carried out the bodies and took the kid into custody. 'After all, it looks like I'm off for the rest of the day."