Chapter Text
“Could you be any louder?” Evie hissed.
“Is that a challenge?” Jacob smirked, boots still landing noisily across the slated rooftop.
Evie shot her brother a glare that would have withered any other man, “Need I remind you that if we’re spotted here, our mission will be blown”
Jacob rolled his eyes, “Ah yes, the mission”
Evie gave him a sour expression, Of course, he had ignored the priority in her statement.
“Tell me again, dear sister, why we can’t have done this any other day?” he held his hand out to the side, his palm quickly devoured by the thrashing pelt of rain. If it weren’t for their thick leather coats they would have been soaked to the bone by now.
“You know, as well as I, that if we don’t retrieve the documents tonight, they’ll be half way across London by tomorrow” Evie snapped.
“As would I” Jacob retorted, clearly stating his preference.
Evie didn’t grace her brother with a response, choosing instead to focus her sights on the building across the street, eyes straining to pick out the red silhouettes against the sleet. She could see there were few Blighters present but they were more than fully armed.
That was the reason for the assassin’s presence that night. Their sources had informed that a deadly invention was in the enemy’s possession, along with the papers to manufacture more.
Without sufficient defenses to hold off against such an onslaught, Evie had chosen to approach the warehouse with stealth over brawn.
Clearly, Jacob did not agree.
What a surprise, Evie rolled her eyes.
“How long must we wait?” he interrupted, “My legs are getting stiff”
Evie withheld a sigh, “A dog whines less than you”
“I’m certain a dog would whine more if you tied him to a rooftop in the middle of a bloody downpour” Jacob snapped back, “At midnight” he added, his patience having ended, “I’ve had it with this”
Evie cast her eyes towards her brother, watching in alarm as he rose up from his kneeling position and swiftly leapt from the rooftop before she could argue.
“Jacob!”
But of course, her brother neither halted nor listened. Already, his boots were on the ground, his leather coat shining with the pelt of rain under the street lamps. She watched in frustration as he quickly scuttled across the road to press himself against the brick wall encircling the property, then, silently slunk through the gap, his intent clear.
“Damn it” Evie hissed, knowing she would have to follow him.
As annoying as he was, and that was an understatement, she could hardly allow him to endanger himself.
The sight of the Blighters became clearer as the assassins approached, their red figures marching about the compound in a manner that suggested they were guarding something valuable.
Evie could see that her brother had already tackled a nearby guard by the time she had crossed the road and passed the wall, if the red figure moaning in the bushes was anything to go by.
It was lucky that the man had not called out in surprise, Evie sighed.
“Care to join me?”
Evie almost jumped out of her skin at his voice and cursed herself for not noticing sooner. Senses now geared into overdrive, Evie easily spotted the outline of her brother, his body half masked behind a number of crates stacked by the rear corner of the building.
She slunk over to his position quietly, “We were supposed to wait” she snapped.
“For what? Father Christmas?” Jacob mocked, his dry tone a mixture of sarcasm and tiredness.
“For Henry” Evie reminded.
He was supposed to be the distraction while Jacob and Evie snuck into the back of the building. While it was possible to accomplish the mission with just the pair of them, it would’ve been much easier to have one assassin lure the Blighters away while the other two sought the documents, and if they were lucky, find the weapon and load it onto a cart for their taking. It would likely be heavy by the sounds of it.
“Poor sod’s probably had to fetch a boat first” Jacob huffed, still unimpressed by the relentless rain. “I’m not staying out in this all night, Evie”
“As if I want to” Evie argued.
“You could’ve fooled me” he shot back, beginning to move.
Evie sighed and slowly followed after her brother. They were in enemy territory now; they might as well begin.
Tagging at least four Blighters on the inside and three remaining on the grounds, Evie slowed their little venture and gestured up to the roof, “I’ll come in from the top and find the papers” she instructed, “-And you lure them away”
Jacob nodded, agreeing for once, “Sounds like fun”
Evie shook her head as he rose fully to her feet, “Don’t die” she warned, firing her grapple hook to the ledge above.
“Don’t worry, sister. That job is reserved for our friends” Jacob replied, watching as his sister rocketed towards the sky, disappearing into the darkness.
He rolled his shoulders in enthusiasm, now walking towards the front of the warehouse with a spring in his step. Though cold and wet, he began to lose the sensation as his heart began to pound with excitement.
“Hello boys!” he announced loudly, arms open wide as if offering an embrace. The alarmed curses of the Blighters rang out in quick succession as they spotted the assassin calmly walking towards them.
“Care for a dance?” Jacob continued, smug as ever. He could almost feel his sister roll her eyes up above.
A particularly large man let out a snarl and began to charge towards Jacob, a blunt object held high with painful intent.
“I’ll take that as a yes” Jacob smiled, quickly ducking the Blighters heavy blow and coming up behind him to deliver the butt of his pistol the back of the man’s skull. The enemy crumpled without a sound.
Jacob had no time to relish the first strike as a second Blighter engaged him in battle, her violent sweeping motion made that much more deadly by the blade she gripped in her hands. She was still no match for the assassin as he side-stepped most of her attempts and blocked the others, quickly disarming the blade with a snap to the elbow before catching it mid-air and ramming it into her shoulder. She shrieked in pain and stumbled back, her balance overthrown as another Blighter muscled his way in.
“So many suitors, too few dancers” Jacob complained, grabbing the wrist of the third man and heaving him forward only to drive him down by an outstretched arm to the throat.
He followed up the maneuver by pressing the Blighter back, rendering his body into a pretzel at the knees where a loud crack and a harsh scream quickly punctured the drill of the rain.
“Doesn't anybody know the Waltz?” Jacob complained, casting his eyes around. The remaining Blighters had come to encircle him, their sodden expressions a mixture of hatred and contempt.
It was then that Jacob noticed one of the Blighter’s were missing. He cast his eagle vision about and noticed the red figure still up on the ledge, his sister one floor below having already entered the building. She mustn’t have seen him through the rain, Jacob cursed.
It would appear that the Blighter had noticed the open latch atop the roof and was headed towards it to investigate.
An angry roar ripped Jacob back to his circumstances as two of the Blighters leaned in to attack him at once.
With skilled ease, Jacob caught one of the men’s wrists and steered the blade down towards the second man’s knee, resulting in another roar of pain. He quickly followed the move with a fist to the knife owners' jaw, rocking him back into a waiting Blighter before twisting to deliver a sweeping kick to a third.
Though he was happy with the results so far, the Blighter on the rooftop had dampened his mood. While he was reluctant to admit it, he would’ve been happy to see Henry round about now. He could hardly warn his sister she was being followed without alerting the others.
A sharp whistling sound suddenly pierced through the night.
“Damn” Jacob hissed, recognizing the sound of the police.
The situation had just become difficult. That whistle would alert every copper in the neighbourhood, and while a policeman was hardly an issue to dispatch, his ties to Abberline and the creed didn’t exactly permit assassinating the innocent.
He would hear about this from Evie.
Jacob ramped up his vigour, dodging blades and angry fists with twice the speed he had previously cared for. He swiftly delivered a number of strikes, his cane sword and golden knuckle dusters making short work of his dance companions.
“You there! Stop!” the policeman had finally entered the compound.
Jacob flinched at the interruption; his eyes darted over to meet the angry bearded man, noting how he held a truncheon in the air. Almost as if he were a knight on a horse, Jacob mused.
Not wanting to wait for things to spiral out of control, Jacob quickly charged the man, ramming him off his feet and plowing him down onto the ground. As luck would have it, the policeman’s head contacted the cobblestones with enough force to render him unconscious on impact. Jacob checked the man’s pulse for good measure. He was alive.
“Oi!”
Oh great...
Jacob twisted around to notice a pair of men approaching. They were also dressed in blue though they held themselves with more confidence than the last.
“Good evening, officers” Jacob charmed, rising to his full height and stepping away from their associate. He began to walk towards them, taking careful note of the weapons they carried.
“I was just passing by when it seemed that your man-” he gestured behind him, drawing their guard off. As soon as their eyes had left his being, Jacob swiftly launched himself at one of the men, using his shoulder to check him off his feet while he moved to disarm the second remaining officer.
Clearly surprised by the speed of the attack, the officer yelped, stumbling back in defense as Jacob sought to subdue his mark.
Perhaps it was the rain that intervened next, causing the wet cobbles to be slippery. Maybe it was the swift youth of the officer. Whatever it was, Jacob found his fist colliding with the wall behind his target as the officer fell below.
“Why you cheeky little-” Jacob hissed, waving off the pain before he dived for his target, capturing him by the lapels.
But before he could wring the man to his feet, two large arms suddenly appeared around his middle and hauled him back. Although the man was strong, all it took was a sharp thrust of his head into the officer’s nose and the tight grip quickly loosened.
Another whistle suddenly rang out into the night.
Jacob lashed out at the source with his boot, sending the first officer to his dreams. But it was too late. Four more policemen had already entered the yard. More would follow.
They surrounded him quickly, twirling their batons, and flexing their fists. Before he could think of a quick remark a crash suddenly sounded from above. He cast his eyes up to witness his sister sparring with the Blighter, whom it seemed was holding a strange device in his hands.
The weapon.
A sudden blow to the stomach folded Jacob in half, a surprised gasp leaving his lungs. The policemen had capitalized on his distraction and now doubled their efforts to subdue the assassin. While one man sought to secure his arms, another man brought his truncheon in an arc towards Jacob’s head.
Jacob quickly raised his arm to block the attack with his free hand and kicked out at the man’s knee, bending it backward. As the man shrieked in pain, another policeman brought the truncheon down against Jacob’s ribs, the space now unguarded with both arms occupied.
The pain only served to enrage the assassin.
With a roar, Jacob thrust his elbow back, catching the windpipe of the man who sought to imprison his arms, to which he was released immediately. He then launched his arm forwards to the man with the truncheon, catching him in the mouth and drawing blood as teeth flew through the air.
Without pause, Jacob swiftly spun around to drive his cane into the face of the last man standing, landing the blow with a satisfying crack that ensured he would have no more trouble from him.
Before he could launch his rope to the rooftop, intent on helping Evie, he heard a stranger call his name, seeking his attention. He had not been expecting a gunshot to follow it.
Though it narrowly missed him, Jacob’s heart seized in fright, his body flushing with adrenaline as he sought out his new attacker.
There, across the road was a Blighter standing on the rooftop, her musket leveled and smoking in his direction. He gnashed his teeth together in anger, feet already gathering purchase on the stones as he raced towards the offending party.
He was partly through the opening in the wall when he noticed a figure pressed into the shadows, waiting for him on the opposite side. He hadn’t the time, nor the momentum to avoid the iron bar that raced after him as he passed through the gap in the wall.
A searing pain erupted at the back of his skull, engulfing Jacob’s vision and causing him to stumble and fall as his faculties failed him.
He was barely aware of his body meeting the cobblestone, nor the rain that began to speckle his face. Unlike the proud assassin who fought strong moments ago, he now lay limp on his front, soaking his vest in the mud and the puddles while his breathing came out harsh and his heart beat faster.
A filter of white mixed with angry red figures swarmed his vision, running together like paint, it was all he could do to keep his eyes from closing as they approached him, their voices mangled but unkind.
The last thing Jacob heard before the darkness took him was the sound of a gunshot.