Ark 21 Episode 26: Two Heads Are Better Than None

Participants
May Yasuda



Here Comes The Boom!
-(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDRXMx94gi8) “REPEAT! I REPEAT! THE LAB IS UNDER ATTACK! THE ASSASSIN IS HERE!”- *BOOOOM! BANNG! BYYAHH!* The sounds of explosions and gunfire quickly fill through a five story building in District Two. Inside of the building, on the third floor, dozens of men with automatic weapons hide behind office cubicles and desks as they point their weapons at the elevator where The Assassin is coming up from. *Bing* The sound of the elevator doors opening up is quickly followed by the raining bullets from the automatic weapons of the laboratories security forces. It only takes a few seconds for the men to empty their clips into the elevator and realizing that nothing is inside, the commander yells out-“Hold your fire!”- Three men walk closer towards the elevator, having their weapons reloaded and ready to strike. As soon as they come close to the elevator, one of the ceiling panels is kicked from the roof and it lands right on the center guard right on his head; hitting him with enough force that it instantly snaps his neck like a twig! Immediately following the ceiling panel, Darius’ body comes dropping down on the other two guards with his two hands extending outwards towards their necks. With his tight grip, his palms push into their necks and the two hidden blades within his forearm protectors shoot out and pierce through their necks and rip their spinal cord from their skulls. Their bodies quickly hit the floor with Darius’ own body brought down onto one knee. Looking up, Jayleen quickly tags all of the enemy in the room; quickly finding the dozens of men in the building.-“Looks like I could use some help…where are the prison holds…”- Jayleen scans the building and shows that the floor he is on is holding over a dozen experimental prisoners here. Darius stands up and reveals the two sharp Demonium hidden blades that are his main style of assassination.

The old man falls to the floor and Darius finds himself leaning down over him as he asks-“Why is the Order experimenting on people!? What were you doing here for them!?”- The old man leans his head back as his glasses fall from his face. He then says in a weakened voice-“You are way over your head assassin…The Order is making something…no…they are created Perfection…you cannot stop them…even now…My part has already been played…the plans for what we gained here have been sent out to the rest of The Knights…You are too late…”-Darius twists the blade and the old man screams in pain-“What were you doing here!?”- The old man spits up blood and says-“Look at the prisoner list…and ask if you think it be coincidence that the prisoners here all have a direct line towards the original families of both The Order and The Brotherhood…The DNA of the descendants are the key to the New World…”- The Old man looks over towards the blonde and then back to Darius-“Before you free these two…just know…The Blonde hottie…I know you saw her…”-Darius slowly looks up towards her cell, nodding with the old man waiting to hear what he has to say. And with his final breath, he says to Darius-“She is a…Yasuda…”- Darius’ eyes widen at the hearing of that name as if he were hearing that a ghost was being reborn. Pulling the blade out of the old man, Darius extends his fingers across the old mans face to shut his eyes, speaking in Italian-“requiescat in pace”- After getting some information out of the old man, he stands up to look at the cells in front of him. More so looking at the blonde as if he knew who she was this whole time.-

“This seems barely fair for your people…” May was in shock by the fact that the hooded man would state such a fact. What made him think that he could plow through all ten of these men as well as the freakish scientist that kept her locked up? Coming up to the glass she places her gloved hands upon the cool surface, watching attentively as the guards took fire on the hooded man. Bringing her hands up to her face she closed her eyes shut tight, she did not want to watch as the bullets would rip through the man’s flesh and send him falling to the ground. Through the glass she could hear as metal clanked against metal, bringing her hands away from her eyes she watched as the hooded man swung his sword and moved it body flinging the bullets towards the guards. Not even a gasp left her lips as the bullets shot through their bodies and blood splattered all over the place. These guards stood guard at her cell day in and day out, they did not find anything wrong with taking a young girl from her home and keeping her captured for experiments. What did cause her to gasp was the sight of the hooded man getting hit in the shoulder with one of the bullets; he seemed to be the best chance for her to get out of this place and did not want anything spoiling that. Looking over into the cell beside her she noticed that the raccoon must be thinking the same thing, his eyes were fixed on the hooded man. Soon their vision would be interrupted as smoke filled the room, the smoke however did not affect them one bit but it still made it hard to see what was happening. Clasping her hands together she prayed that the hooded man would survive this, she prayed that she would do whatever it took to find out whom all was responsible for these horrible experiments. As the smoke cleared she was given the chance to watch as the man hoped off of the desk and plunged his sword into the scientist’s chest. She watched as his blood splattered across her wall, right in front of her eyes. “Yes!” She cheered out, she couldn’t believe she was cheering but she was glad to see this sick fuck die. As the man spoke new words were introduced to her; who was The Order? Who was the brotherhood? Creating perfection? “Prisoners here all have a direct line towards the original families of both The Order and The Brotherhood” –So this meant that I too was a descendent but who is it that they speak of.- Banging on the glass she was finally ready to leave this cell, the hooded man needed to finish off the deranged scientist and let her out, she wanted to get out of this place in the worst way. “She is a…Yasuda…” –What does my last name have anything to do with this, not like it is special or anything. - Not knowing much about her family tree, she had spent many nights trying to find some information on her descendents. Finally the old man takes his last breath and passes, moment later the hooded man comes up to her cell and stands there staring at her. Cocking her eyebrow she places her hands on her hips. “Take a picture it lasts longer, now if you could be so kind do you mind setting me free from this very annoying cell.” Looking over at her friend in the other cell she smiled and looked back at the man. “Oh and would you mind letting my friend out as well, we both have some business that we need to take care of.” She hated that fact that her life was now in the hands of this man, it was up to him to let them both out.‏

Enemies Through Time
-(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqUVC0jpZEw) As Darius stares down the beautiful blonde in the cell, Darius can’t help but look past her and see the legend that comes from her family. A long line of Knights of The Order. Hearing her talk only brings Darius to smirk and chuckle to himself in a soft manner. With his left hand he places the blade back into its sheathe as he slowly replies back to her with-“You have no idea who I am….do you?...”- After asking that, he slowly moves towards the cell where the walking Raccoon is and quickly opens it up for him. The small furry body comes walking out as his left paw rubs the back of his neck.-“Listen guy…May here is good people…Whatever beef you have with her family…I am sure she didn’t know anything of it…My name is Ratchet…and I would like to thank you for rescuing us…Well, I guess just me so far.”- Darius slowly nods to Ratchet and then looks over to May, saying-“You and I…We’ve been at war since before either of us were born…Your family is from a long line of powerful Knights in what is known as The Order…A secret organization trying to control every aspect of the world to create their own World Order…And my family…A family of Assassins that is part of The Brotherhood…an opposite organization that is ran by the Creed that freedom be the choice of the people…and not the powerful men with money…Ever since the beginnings of time, your family and mine have been nothing but enemy. Killing one another in the name of one righteous act or another…”-Looking down at the scientist he continues to speak by saying-“This is why he told me who you were…because no matter how much an Assassin wants to give people the benefit of the doubt…Tha Yasuda have already stabbed my family in the back in more than one occasion.”-Hearing a small summary of the hundreds if not thousands of years of two bloodlines reaching all the way back to the ancient times, Ratchet looks over to May and asks-“Did you know?...No…How could you know?”- Looking over to Darius, Ratchet says-“Please…May has always been there for me…through all the prodding and experimenting we went through…May always helped…I can’t leave her…”- Darius sighs and can’t help but feel the heartbeat inside of Ratchet telling the truth. It had seemed that this little guy had become attached to his cell neighbor in their short time together. Darius slowly walks towards the door of her cell and slowly opens it up. If she were to try and step out, she would be able to see Darius’ face in complete exposure as he says-“You try anything funny…I won’t hesitate to take action…Please don’t confuse my kindness with weakness and make me regret saying you….Yasuda…”- He then moves towards the side so that way her and Ratchet could finally be face to face for a change.-

Watching the man she waited for his reply, hoping that he would see all of the horrors that she has seen and experienced over these few days. But all he did was look through her, as if his mind was reeling with thoughts of his own, deep thoughts that he then shared with her. When he asked her if she knew him she shook her head “I have no idea who you are but I did over hear them call you an assassin.” She put her hands on the glass as she watched the assassin walk away from her cell and then opened the door for the raccoon. “Excuse me! Please let me out, come on!” But her words were lost as the raccoon began pleading for her case, she couldn’t help but smile as he continued to talk about her. Looking down at the small creature she smiles and nods her appreciation. “You and I…We’ve been at war since before either of us were born…” She didn’t understand how they could be at war and she didn’t even know anything about these two groups. So she was taken because of her descendents, her eyebrows creased as she felt her anger grow. “I do not know these people, I have no idea what their plan was and I have no idea what being the order means. Why would I agree to be experimented on and ripped from my home?” As Ratchet asked if she knew about this all she could do was shake her head in disagreement, she had no idea that these two groups were at war, she had no idea she was part of The Order. Again Ratchet took the time to plead for her case, she treasured all of the words he spoke, she knew that they comforted each other after each experiment but she had no idea he thought that way. She watched as the assassin walked back to her cell door and opened it slowly. Taking a step forward she was stopped before she existed the cell. “You try anything funny…I won’t hesitate to take action…Please don’t confuse my kindness with weakness and make me regret saying you….Yasuda…” Looking up at him she makes eye contact, wanting him to know that she does not fear him. “You say my last name as if it is an insult but I do not live in the world you do, at least I didn’t but I guess now I do. Just so you know The Order locked me up and did tests on me, I show no loyalty to them and wish to see them burn for what they did to all of the people hear.” After speaking to the assassin she shoved past him and knelt down in front of Ratchet, grabbing the creature by the shoulders she latched onto his form, hugging him tightly. “Thank you for not leaving me, I appreciate how you fought for my release. You shall always be a true friend but I must ask for your help… I want the motherfucking Order to pay. Whatever they did to us they were foolish; I feel stronger, healthier, and faster.” Standing up she turned her head toward the assassin. “Are you in?”‏

Ground Rules
-(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rO7UiIc1FU) Darius shows no sign of emotion towards the two as they hug and show how much they care for each other. Darius, being the assassin that he is; is taught to show no emotion and to not “feel” outside of the people on his team. He even comes to roll his eyes a bit as he then says to them-“Why don’t you just show all of the cameras in this office that you two care for each other…Because The Order will use your friendship against you…Use one as bait to get the other…You wish to seek vengeance against The Order, yet you know not of what they even are…They will chop you both up and spit you out without a seconds notice. And that is if you even come into contact with a Knight.”-He turns to face Ratchet and May while saying-“If you two try to go after The Order…You are as good as dead.”- That is when Ratchet extends his claws out in a pleading manor as it seemed the raccoon is very smart for what he actually is.-“Then teach us…Let us work with you. We can be just as much an asset as we can partners! Come on, you know you want a badass like me helping you out…And I saw the way you looked at May! You think she is hot!”- Darius turns away from the two of them, letting the hood do its job of hiding Darius’ facial expression after hearing Ratchet’s proposal. Darius then says to them-“If you did come with me. We do things my way. This isn’t the Wild West where you can kill who you want…We have to be tactical about everything we do…And since I am the only one with actual Assassins Training…You will have to do what I say. When I say it…It will keep you alive.”- Once again turning to face the two of them, looking towards Ratchet first who gives him a confident nod in that he will follow Darius. The two of them then look over to May as they await to see her response to what Darius is offering her. A chance to take revenge on the organization that stole her from her family and experimented on her. An opportunity at redemption for what had been done to her. Darius is not the most patient fellow, so May would have only a few seconds to answer before the offer being taken off the table completely.-

Standing next to Ratchet May listens as this assassin goes on and on about everything they are doing wrong, she doesn’t want to listen to his words but knows that what he is saying is the truth. She might not understand this new world that was thrust upon her but this man did and even if it pained her to admit this she needed to listen to his words and follow them. May watches as Ratchet moves away from her and pleads with the man to allow them to come with him and learn from him. Even though on the surface May would rather it just be Ratchet and her she knew that their best chances would be to learn from this guy. As the assassin gives them both his stipulations she wonders if she has the ability to just drop everything and go off to take revenge on these people. –What about my family? Should I not be going home to see if they are ok? To let them know that I am ok? But by going back I am putting them in danger, I need to take care of this threat before I can even think about heading back home.- Once Ratchet had agreed to listen to the assassin and do everything he says, then all eyes were on her. She knew they didn’t have much time and she needed to answer fast but she couldn’t help but make the assassin wait just a moment for her answer. Out stretching her hand towards him she spoke her final verdict “We have a deal, everything is your call. I will try my best to listen to you and your opinions but I cannot promise that I won’t fight you on the way.” Shaking her head she didn’t want the assassin to change his mind. “I will really try not to be a pain in the ass, I will keep myself inline.” Looking around the now empty room, well except for the bloodied bodies that were scattered along the floor. “So assassin leader, what is our escape plan? I am betting that you have everything already planned out and set in motion.” Walking over to one of the guards she pushed his corps over onto its side; she took whatever weapons he might have on him. She was able to find one small knife, a handgun, and about three smoke bombs. Looking down at her outfit she did not have much storage to place these weapons so she help onto the gun in her right hand and had the knife in her left, not wanting to interfere with her motion she set the three smoke bombs back down next to the body. “Well I am set, Ratchet this other guard over here has some weapons, need any?”

Three is a Crowd in Prison
-Darius stares at May as she makes him wait a bit for his answer. Listening to her as she gathers weapons and talks about how she will keep herself in line; Darius gives a smug look as he hates the way that sounds. Not the agreement to work together, but how she speaks as though he is asking her to bow down to his will. Outside of Artemis, Darius doesn’t want a team of people bowing to his will. That being a different story in itself. With her gathering all the gear she needs, he reaches out to her to grab her by her forearm. If she did not instantly try and fight him back, he would say to her-“Hey look…I don’t mean to sound like an asshole. Trusting isn’t a strong suit in my line of work…Especially to someone who comes from a family of Knights…Cut me a little slack here. I just don’t need innocent blood on my hands…You two breathing and KEEPING it that way is the goal right now.”-He then flashes her a soft smile so she could feel more welcome around him. Not really giving off any vibe of emotion, but a common physical gesture to calm another person down; something he had learned in his training. If she were to accept and respond back to what he says, the three of them could now continue on with a more positive outlook on the situation. In a split few seconds of silence, it is quickly broken by Ratchet working on something in the corner with one of the guards. That is when May asks Ratchet is he needs anything weapons related. The attention quickly turns to him as even Darius looks over to the little guy to see what he is up too. A few more seconds pass with Ratchet throwing pieces of metal and parts of guns and grenades flying all across the area. Darius raises a brow in curiosity wondering what it is this guy is doing. Even one of the assault rifles is grabbed by Ratchet. Almost a minute passes when he finally says to them.-“No May, I got what I need right here…”- He then stands up and reveals the guards assault rifle to be completely modified to look like a cannon with four different tubes!

–“Holy shit!”-Darius says as even he gets a bit excited at seeing something like that created in such a short amount of time. Being a tech genius himself, Darius can appreciate when someone shares a talent in creating technology. With Ratchet holding the cannon up, he says to the two of them-“I’m ready to rock!”- Darius nods and with the team set, he begins to make his way towards the front of the office. When he passes Ratchet, Darius says to him-“You know, I think I might make you a permanent teammate.”- He then laughs a bit as Ratchet follows behind him; making sure that May keeps with them. When they get to the front of the fifth floor, Darius looks out of one of the windows and sees four cars surrounding the front. Darius speaks in an angry tone-“Knights…”- Pointing for May to come and look, he says to her-“See those…Those are Knights of The Order. Men who want to kill all three of us.”- Turning to face Ratchet he says-“May and I are going to make a distraction for you. Just before they light me up…hit them with that cannon of yours.”-Ratchet nods and looks over to May-“Our ride is on the way…let’s go buy him a few more minutes.”- Before acting, he waits to see what May will say to him about his plan.-

A hand takes hold of her forearm, whipping around to face Darius she rips her arm from his grasp and listens to what he has to say. “You might not have wanted to sound like an asshole but you sure did to me. You speak of these knights as if I would know what it all means, I might have their blood running through my veins but I show no elegance towards these knights. And cut you a little slack, how about cutting me a little slack….” Getting in his face May decides that maybe it is time to get everything off her chest with this man. “I was taken from my home three days ago, shoved into a cell, experimented on, and now even with being free I truly don’t have my freedom because I am still being hunted down for the blood that runs through me, the same blood that I wish I never had. So excuse me for not being a bundle of joy and all ‘Go Team’.” Cocking her eyebrow she watches as he twists his face into a smile, looking at his eyes she can tell that even though his face shows kindness there is nothing but dead emotion. But at least he was trying, more than what she could say. Reaching up, her fingers thread through her blonde hair, closing her eyes she sighs deeply. “I am sorry, you might be use to situations like this and people that want you dead but I am not. Just a few days ago I was a 16 year old high school student, now I don’t know what I am.” Lifting up her face to look at him she too smiles warmly at him. “So, let’s try to get through this, no bloodshed allowed.” Now that the atmosphere was at least more positive May was able to notice the sounds that were coming from the corner of the room. Turning her body she saw Ratchet huddled in the corner throwing and creating something. Curious about what he is doing May walks towards him slowly, ducking as a grenade piece comes for her face, looks back as the piece crashes to the floor “What the hell..”. Coming up beside him Ratchet finally states that he has everything he needs and turns around with a creation he made himself. She gasps as she looks at the creation, clasping her hands together bends over to get a better look. “Wow, Ratchet, I had no idea you could do things like this.” Standing up straight she smiles down at the creature “Well if you are ready then so am I.” Lifting her head she looks towards the man but him and Ratchet are in their own little world. Rolling her eyes she follows after them, -guess all boys have their toys..human or not- The thought caused her to giggle and smile to herself, it was nice to get a chance to find the humor in life. Once they got to the front of the fifth floor, May over hears the name say “Knights” following his motion to come up the window she looks outside to see several cars parked in the front of the building. There were so many of them and they were here just to put a bullet in each one of their heads. Looking up at the man’s face as he speaks his plan she nods. Looking down at Ratchet quickly she whispers “You better be careful”. Now it was time to see what she could do for this so called ‘team’. If they all wanted to get out of here alive then that meant that they all had to work together, especially her. “Alright so how can I help? Just say the word and I am on it.”‏

-(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syHpJ1ydby4) After May accepts the situation, even if it is a little filled with attitude, Darius begins to take a few steps back from the window. In response to May asking what she can do, he says to her-“If you can get down there fast enough, you can help take a few of these fucks out for Ratchet here.”- After saying that, he charges at the window and while placing his arms in front of his face he leaps out of the window and begins to freefall down the five floors! Ratchet walks towards the window now with his cannon facing down at the cars waiting for the signal. If May were to follow, she would only be a few seconds off from when Darius jumped. Darius flips around in the air and seeing two guards below him, he thrusts both hidden blades into their skulls. The impact of the blades and his body pull the two bodies towards the ground. The kills attract the attention of the other guards, the sound of rifles being cocked back rings through his ears as all the guns are pointed on him. With that, Darius slowly puts his hands on his head with a small smirk as he waits to see what May will do. One of the Knights yells out-“Darius Corvo! You have been sentenced with the deaths of over three hundred Knights of The Order! An act that can only be met with death!”- Darius laughs at their sentence while yelling back-“Has it only been three hundred!? I have to step my game up! You Filthy Knights are all going to meet your ends tonight!”- The Knights all laugh while the one speaking already asks-“Yeah!? By you and what army!?”- Darius smirks-“Who said anything about an army?”- And that is the perfect time for May to make her entrance as a badass member of the Assassins with this opening Darius is creating for her.-

“Get down there fast enough?” Just as her question was out of her mouth she watched as the man charged at the window, shattering it he jumped down with such grace. Running up to the window she looked down and watched as he came down on two guards. “He wants me to jump? He actually wants me to jump down five stories.” Using her boot to kick away the remnants of the glass on the window she hops up on the window sill, looking down she asses who are on the ground and where the perfect spot to land would be. She found her spot, there was a garbage bin about 7 feet away from the scene, which would give her the opportunity to gun down as many guards as she could. Looking back at Ratchet she smiles “You better not hit me with that thing.” Pushing off of the window sill all of the guards were more focused on the man, their rifles drawn as a man spoke to him. Falling down the five flights was terrifying her arms and legs being pushed by the wind. Looking down she waited for impact, taking the fall her feet hit first but she automatically rolled over in the direction of the garbage bin. Once she was clearly behind it she lifted up her handgun with both hands. Her father’s voice rang in her head ::Breath, don’t close your eyes, and take aim.:: Moving her gun she aimed at each guards head, it was their mistake for standing there like sitting ducks. Once she got the motion of how she should shoot she was ready to take some of these guys down. “Yeah!? By you and what army!?” The Order said and the man’s response was “Who said anything about an army?”. Taking that as a sign she pulled the gun up, kept both of her eyes open but focused through her right eye, and took a deep breath. Aiming at the opened helmet of the first guard she took her shot, the bullet whooshed through the air and went straight between his eyes, before his lifeless body hit the floor she was able to aim at the next guard. Taking the next shot she was able to take down about two guards before the others looked around to see where the shots were taken. Staying still she hoped that the assassin could take care of himself while he was standing there. Before moving from behind she aimed for the third guard, coming out from behind the bin she took fire at his head, the bullet splitting through his skull.‏

-(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppE2vQ6GEFI) With his enhanced hearing, he can sense that May had caught onto his plan. Once the guns begin to start shooting from May’s end, the guards are all caught by surprise as they are one by one taken out by her pistol fire. With their eyes quickly drawn to May, some of the guards begin to open fire on her location. The bullets begin to rain down on her location while she fires at the other guards. But not seconds after they fire on May does Darius spin back up to his feet and with agility on his side he grabs hold of his two .50 Caliber Hand Cannons that are strapped to his back. Taking quick aim he fires these large rounds down at the guards with no mercy! The gun having so much power behind it that when he fires at a guard who hides behind the cover of his car door, the bullet rips right through the metal and pierces into his skull to turn his head into a canoe. Even with an Akimbo style of gun fighting with the two hand cannons, Darius shows peak accuracy as each bullet quickly hits its mark. With the accuracy of both their weapons raining down on them, the Knights begin to pull back with their leader even yelling out to them-“Retreat! We aren’t going to take them!”- Darius smirks and with that yells out to Ratchet,-“Do it now, Ratchet!”- And up on the fifth floor, Ratchet whispers-“My pleasure…”-and begins to fire his cannon out at the four SUV’s that are surrounding the building they are on. The four barrels begin to unload the grenades that had been taken off the guard when Ratchet designed this make-shift cannon. The grenades are all launched out of the weapons with their pins being pulled by a small hook in the cannon to activate them. All four of the grenades fly through the windows and windshields of the SUV’s and when the Knights think they are able to escape…*BOOOOM!* All of the SUV’s explode from the effects of the grenades and the building is quickly surrounded by a wall of fire and heated metal! Darius raises up his left hand a bit to block the explosion from bothering him and he wuickly smirks in enjoyment of seeing The Knights get a piece of their own medicine. People who had been kidnapped and trapped here run out of the building now as they escape to a new life. Darius on the other hand calls Ratchet down to come meet him and May down on the street. When he does come down, the three of them come together and Darius says to them-“If you guys want, you can stay with me at my hideout…It’s not the Four Seasons. But it is safe from The Knights and The Order.”-And if they were to accept, a plume of smoke would surround their bodies and within seconds the three of them escape the scene before the KPD can come and try and make a scene with any of them.-