“Your Grace.” Ash announced herself as she entered the personal rooms of sanctuary’s benevolent ruler.

“Ah Ashyln, I have your next task, this time as my weapon.”

“Finally, something actually interesting.” Ash settled leaning against the doorframe. “No more babysitting.”

“You question my will.” The Grace’s face remained calm, serene, but her projected words had a hard edge.

“No Tara, of cour-”

“Tara? Are you my daughter or my tool? Is 2 months enough time for you to be corrupted?”

Ash cringed, her eyes downcast. “No, of course not. I am sorry Your Grace, I forgot my place.” She fidgeted, before looking up again as Her Grace edged closer. “It will not happen again.”

“Of course it wont.” Tara’s voice was unnaturally soft as she cradled the side of Ash’s face. “I raised you better, you are pure. You are intent made manifest, nothing could be of greater importance. You are magicless and yet, under me, you have gained so much power, so much skill. I trust you would not stray from my path, and lose all that I have given you.”

“Never.” Ash’s voice was reverent, her faith solidified once again, this was her purpose. “What would you have me do.”

“That pitiful wretch you Released, the corrupt telekinetic, a team has been sent to recover its body, you will cleanse them and then bring their remains back, to me. Astra will be your handler in her usual location, she will give you the rest of the details.”

There was no need to question who sent the team, what she was up against, she inclined her head again, this time in subservience. “Your will be done.”

“Our will Ashlyn, this is for us, for sanctuary.”

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Ash sat crouched in the upper boughs of the central willow tree that adorned half heart park, relishing the way the wind flowed, catching the strands as they swayed carefully, as if unsure of how safe it would be to let loose. She surveyed the park, straining to pick out detail where the floating Terce Tech lights failed to illuminate. Satisfied, or perhaps it would be better to say frustrated, that Astra wasn’t there, she turned her gaze to the midnight blue sky. She found it so easy to get lost under the arcane pull of the endless expanse, that was true magic, the very idea that there was more, it was terrifying. Pale stars dotted the canvas, marking what would be a lifeless void as something... more. It was a shame sanctuary was so small, and confined to one place, but that only made Her Grace’s goal more important, if they could live freely, perhaps they could expand, create a place of safety for everyone, Ash as her right hand, her tool to pave the way. A faint rustle of clothing from below her caught her attention, drawing her out of her vision, finally. “Took you long enough.” Ash said, without turning. A woman's disembodied shriek, followed by cursing confirmed the source of the noise. “Grace’s tits Ash, how do you always know when im here.” Ash responded by gracefully dropping from the tree, right in front of where she had pinpointed Astra’s voice. This elicited another shriek, but she still remained unseen. “Impressive, you didn’t stop refracting, you’ve clearly been practicing.” Ash fixed her gaze to where she thought Astra was standing as Astra returned to visibility half a metre to the left. “Not enough clearly.” She grumbled “You still knew I was there.”

“You may be able to refract light, but you can’t suppress sound, I advise finding some quieter clothes.” Astra pouted, pulling at her long coat. “I like my clothes, besides we can’t all have custom stealth suits.” Ash didn’t bother correcting her, she hated the synthetic stealth suits that were sometimes given out to the lesser operatives in sanctuary. On top of the horrible material that she struggled to even touch without involuntarily cringing, the kevlar reinforcements around vital areas restricted movement. She needed the flexibility and she sure as anything didn’t need armour. Her outerwear was custom made, a tight fitting, tailored long sleeve shirt made of a fleecy, thermal like material; a pair of perfectly fitted soft leather gloves with tiny slits in the thumb and forefinger and a pair of dark cotton trousers with elastic inserts around the knee and ankle to keep it tight. Her boots, finishing the ensemble, were sublime, made of supple leather with slipper like soles; in short, all designed so that she made the least amount of noise possible. It fit like a second skin, and if it weren't for the array of weapons, tools and specialised artefacts hidden or strapped around her, she’d honestly consider wearing it all casually, but walking around seemingly unarmed unnerved people enough as it was. As much as she didn’t care what most of the people around sanctuary thought, it reflected poorly on Her Grace. Ash shook herself from her musings and cocked her head, looking at Astra, “So, give me the rundown, how does She want it done and where are the body charms stashed?”

“Our benevolent leader wants them all ‘purified’” Ash frowned at the sarcasm the other girl employed. “As for the charms, I’ve got them on me. The targets team is currently holed up a few streets down, Ark way?” Ash nodded, encouraging Astra to continue. “The little corner shop that sells cheap Terce Tech down there, Terrence’s Goods, they’ve taken it over and are using the upper floor. The team consists of 3, I don’t think any of them had innates, but they were definitely all comfortable with magic. One of them was a pyrokinetic and another was an animator, but clearly not a practised one. I couldn’t figure out what, if any ability the last guy had, sorry. I think that’s it. Oh!” She pulled a small bag out of one of her many coat pockets and rummaged around, pulling out four nondescript ceramic discs, before offering them to Ash, who slipped them into the inserts on her inner bicep. She checked the rest of her equipment quickly, making sure her shortsword was strapped comfortably to her back and within easy reach, before nodding to Astra and setting off in a quiet jog. Most of her equipment was kept in spacial storage charms situated in various easy to access locations on her outfit, but she liked to keep a bare minimum on her, just in case. While magic had never failed her before she didn’t like to rely on it. Ash didn’t even have the slightest drop of potentia, to the point where not even an affinity could help, but she had no need for any of it anyway, there was a reason she was out here and not anyone else. Turning her mind to the task ahead she tried to think of the best way to deal with her targets. It was frustrating that Astra hadn't managed to gather any more information on their abilities, especially with a pyrokinetic in the picture. She could feel the skin tightening on her thigh with every step, a gift from one of the first pyrokinetics she was assigned who had an innate for self healing; bastard woke up after she slit his throat and made a grab for her. Having an unknown was even worse though, and she didn’t like her chances to purify all three quietly if they were all in the same room. ‘Let's just see how this goes’, she thought as she neared the tech store. Unsurprisingly, the neon sign was still on, drawing Ash closer like a moth to a beacon, bathing the street in a harsh glow, revealing odd scorch marks in the road. She flicked her eyes back to the store and regretted it as they started to sting, having to take a few moments to rub them and regain her vision. Slinking into the alleyway, she regarded the side of the building. There, as she had hoped, a window clearly leading into the living space above the shop. Her form shifted blindingly fast as she turned and sprinted at the wall at the end of the alley, before kicking off it at angle to grab the ledge above her, pulling herself up to the neighbouring building. She peered through the window, just as a man in a navy blue suit turned to look out of it. Ash stayed crouched, going as still as possible, but it was no use, he narrowed his eyes, then disappeared, just as a fist entered her side. ‘Astra could have mentioned one of them was a fucking sighter’ she thought as she rolled with the blow, her training kicking in as she came back up in a crouch, her shortsword in hand. She pounced, ready to pull back when he teleported, testing the waters. He disappeared and she spun, already lashing out, but meeting nothing but air. Instead the man stood a few feet in front of her, smirking. Bastard knew how to fight with his abilities. Ash combed through her undestanding of acquired gifts, even if this guy was at the peak of his ability and fully trained, he can't teleport indefinitely, but close enough to it; she’d have to catch him out, anticipate. She let out a feral grin, perfect, a challenge, she’d been babysitting for too long. She lunged towards him in a feint, before throwing herself in the other direction. She flew through the air, but again met nothing and was forced into a roll. She whipped her head around wildly, before meeting the bastards gaze, his smirk running even deeper. ‘Fuck’. She growled, reaching for a throwing knife and flinging it at him, he disappeared and Ash gambled, spinning to her left. Her sword met flesh, cutting into the bone, stopping with an unnerving jolt before it severed. ‘Not the cleanest, but the prick wasn’t fighting fair’ she mused, stepping back and positioning her sword between them. He screamed, high-pitched and without abandon. Ash grinned and answered with an overhand cut, that met nothing as her own knife buried itself in her side. Her breath caught in her throat and she let out a guttural, rage filled snarl as she reversed her grip on her sword and drove it behind her into the man's neck, then turned and hacked the rest of his head off. She inspected the cut, frustration etched onto her features. ‘Clearly its fucking amateur hour, why the fuck did I reset when he can teleport. A few weeks of babysitting and I lose my edge.’ She thought as she dropped to her knees, fighting to get her breath back. She turned her attention back to the window, sure the sounds of the fight would have alerted the other two, but she couldn’t see any movement. She frowned, she had made way too much noise there and even if she hadn't, the guy had screamed octaves higher than she could even come close to, not that her voice was too high-pitched to begin with. She pulled a body charm from its sheath and crouched to inspect her work, fighting a wave of revulsion. Once stripped of her bloodlust, Ash struggled every time she looked at someone she had purified. She never saw it as killing, it couldn’t be, when the deaths were in service of a higher purpose, but that didn’t stop a severed head from being unnerving. She hesitated, questioning that logic again, as she inspected the man's suit. Images of a similar suit flashed through her mind, then of Judy, shaking as she healed, and she remembered why she was doing this. These people were a scourge, and one she would purify at Her Grace’s behest. She tapped the charm to the sighter’s body, willing him into it, before repeating the same with the man’s head. Satisfied, she returned the charm to its sheath and looked to the window again. Still nothing. Well if they were deep sleepers it would let her finish her task without a hitch at least. Ash reached to her side, probing the wound, before hissing and pulling her hand away, carefully she turned her head to inspect it, the knife had entered at an upwards angle, but thankfully had glanced off her ribcage. It hurt like a motherfucker, but it was just a flesh wound, and her night wasn’t over yet. She started off in a sprint, leaping to catch the ledge of the window. Thankfully, it was old fashioned, no fading in or out. Still gripping the ledge, she pulled out a thin turner and inserted it into the keyway, applying some tension before engaging the tiny inertia damper that would keep it in place, anything with Terce based tech was dangerous, but something this small shouldn’t attract attention, and she’d used it hundreds of times. Next she pulled out a hook and fiddled a bit, before putting pressure on the turner again, the lock yielded, letting her open the window. She pulled herself up and peered into the room once again, satisfied that nothing was amiss. Slipping into the room, taking in her surroundings, letting her eyes adjust to the darker scene, the light of the neon sign barely reaching this side of the building. The room formed an L-shape, created by what was presumably a bathroom to her left. There was a decrepit, threadbare sofa in the right corner of the room, next to a door, and a coffee table that had been broken in half, but no people. Ash crept to the door, trying to open it as quietly as possible, which only caused it to let out a slow groan. She did another sweep of the room behind her, before slipping into the hallway. She could hear muffled sounds of snoring, so she crept to what seemed to be the bedroom. As she opened the door though, she heard someone step into the hallway. Ash spun, only for the floor to wrap around the foot she was pivoting on, sending her crashing to the floor.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Gerald, wake up you fuck! One of those freaks is here.”

Ash caught the sight of the suit shouting as she ripped her foot from the floor and flung herself to her feet. ‘So this is the animator, meaning the one still sleeping is the pyro. Shit’.

She hopped to her feet, sheathing her sword and pulling out a throwing dagger. She rushed toward the animator, who, predictably, splayed his hands, causing the floor to try to grab her again. She flung the dagger at him in a single, short, practised movement as she dove to the ground, just in time for light to erupt above her. ‘So he’ll sleep through ear splitting screams but a single shout is enough to rouse him, just fucking great’.

Trusting her aim had been true, she rolled back to her feet and turned to the pyro, who, instead of the trademark suit, was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts with a hot rod pattern on it.

‘Typical’ she snorted, as another gout of flame erupted from his hand, aiming for her head. Ash rolled, drawing her short sword as she did, and lunged towards his neck. He lurched back, her sword barely missing, and he jerked his hands towards his chin, interrupting the stream of fire. Ash flicked her wrist to the right, cutting through his neck, then stepped back, letting him drop to the ground, blood pooling around his head as he twitched before falling still. She looked around, adrenaline still flooding her system, but no other threat emerged, so she moved to sheath her sword. She winced, noticing a burn on the inside of her wrist, and, as if looking at it gave it sentience, it started to hurt, a constant sharp ache. ‘Fucking pyros’. More carefully this time she sheathed her sword, and inspected her surroundings. The animator lay against a wall, a knife in his throat, a section of the wall burning merrily above him. She gave the pyro a little kick and checked her side again. Satisfied she wasn’t going to die of blood loss, she went into the bedroom the pyro emerged from, looking for the body she had been sent here to retrieve. Finding nothing but a bright orange suit strewn out on the floor she went back into the hallway, pulling out two body charms. She didn’t dwell on them, just willed them into the charms and put them back into their sheaths, before checking the rest of the apartment. She found her target in the bathroom, zipped in a body bag lying in a bath full of ice. ‘Mission complete’ she thought grimly, as she hit the signal beacon on her belt and stashed the target, noting that the pallor of the redheads skin had barely changed in death. ‘Though I won’t hear the end of it from Ami, I haven't taken a hit in nearly a year.’ Her thoughts drifted to the medical bay, thinking of ways to stop Amida insisting she stay the night in a hospital bed. ‘Though it’d put me next to Judy, and I haven't even begun to irritate her yet.’ but Judy’s words seemed to echo in her head — ‘she was kinda cute, in a sharp, deaths daughter sort of way’. Ash shook her head, clearing her thoughts, relationships didn’t work, couldn’t work for her, Amida was proof of that. Besides, once Judy got to know her, she wouldn’t be interested, that was a certainty. Ash shook her head again, and set off back to sanctuary.