Blade of the Avengers

Chapter 4 - First Contact

            Kate's eyes flew wide in shock as she watched the flechette thrown by the Assassin intercept the kinetic round midflight and split it in two. Yelena had told her that there were few in the world who possessed that kind of skill and she had just witnessed it. The Assassin dove behind a desk as a cloud of smoke enveloped the three of them. Kate and Yelena coughed and tried to see through the haze. Yelena put her Byrna in its holster and drew her combat knife. As the smoke cleared, the Assassin appeared before them his fist connecting with Kate's jaw knocking her to the floor. Yelena was on her own and engaged the Assassin. Confident of victory, Yelena threw a series of punches and kicks all of which the Assassin parried and blocked. The Assassin countered with several kicks and punches of his own and unleashed a flurry of attacks that the Red Room trained operative had no answer for. Yelena had sparred against Antonia and the master assassin judged that the Assassin was more skilled than the dreaded Taskmaster. Yet she could tell that her foe was pulling his punches, that he was trying not cause any lasting damage. In the corner of her eye, she could see Kate rising to her feet and join the battle. Now the fight would be fought on more equal terms. Again, the both of them were surprised by the skill of the Assassin. He was more than able to hold his own against two capable fighters. But he was not interested in fighting. The Assassin was looking to escape. Seeing a window, the Assassin disengaged and ran toward it.

"No don't" Kate screamed as the Assassin smashed through the glass and jumped out of the ten-story building.

"Well, we won't have to go far to recover the information since he thought himself Peter Pan" Yelena commented. "Pity he died. He was quite skilled."

"Show some respe . . . ct" Kate answered her voice trailing off as she and Yelena looked out the window and watched as the Assassin disappeared into the darkness at a full sprint. She turned to Yelena whose eyes betrayed her disbelief.

"Uh did I just see what I think I just saw" Yelena could only say.

"No human can make a jump like that. A person would have to have been augmented to survive that kind of fall" Kate cried out. "It's just not possible!"

"We can talk about it later. Right now, we have to leave. Our cover story didn't involve the fight and alarm" Yelena reminded Kate. "We have to report this."

Kate and Yelena left Quantico and for the first few hours of the drive back to Avengers Headquarters was spent in silence; both women processing what they witnessed. For Kate, the realization that her mother had not lied was difficult to accept. The Assassins were very much real and that meant that the Templars too still existed. Kate made a mental note to do some research on the Assassin Brotherhood. She briefly entertained the notion of visiting her mother again and questioning Eleanor, but dismissed the idea. The Assassins were probably watching her mother and if she approached her, they may assume that Kate was collaborating with her or she herself was a member of the Templars. However, there was one person they could talk to.

"We need to talk to Clint" Kate said finally breaking the silence.

"And what could he possibly know" Yelena answered. She herself was coming to terms with being outfought. Nobody was better trained in martial arts than a Red Room operative and yet, she was bested by someone who clearly her better.

"My mother mentioned that Barton was trained by them. Perhaps he might know something" Kate explained.

Yelena grunted and continued to drive. "Better to not mention what we saw until we speak to Clinton. He has a lot of explaining to do. I'll also place a call to my mother. Dreykov seemed to know a lot about them and my mother was his confidant. It's possible she may know something about who we are facing."