Care to Donate Some Blood

Jostling his way through the crowd, the Blue fox slowly made his way through the town's bustling streets. Beneath his cloak, Blue held the gauntlet close to his chest.

Ducking into a side road, Blue leant against a wall, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"So many people." He muttered.

Holding the gauntlet up, Blue looked it over. The large gash caused by Iseul had seemingly stitched itself back together. Although now that the Blue fox was holding it again, the healing process had stopped.

"Sentient artifact, huh." Kicking off the wall, Blue kept walking down the side road. The sun began to disappear behind the buildings as he walked. Standing outside an empty café, Blue looked at the sign. The Thirsty Cat.

Rolling his eyes, Blue put a hand on the door. "That damn cat, of course she'd pick this place." Opening the door, Blue stepped in.

As there were no lights on, Blue had to squint to see. "Why the hell is it so dark in here."

"Because you're late."

Spinning around, Blue could barely see her in the dark.

Sat in an armchair in the corner of the room. The Grey fox's fur cloak camouflaged into the fur-lined armchair, the cloak's hood pulled over her head.

"I'm not late." Blue shot back, taking his hood off. "I'm right on time."

Leaning forward, Grey held up a yellow crystal. Tapping it with a finger, the crystal lit up, illuminating the room. "Where's Red?"

"Where's Yellow?"

Huffing, the Grey fox stood up. "She was supposed to meet you two when you entered town to tell you something important, but I'm guessing you split up?"

"You know how Red is with his sweets."

"Do you have it or does he?"

Moving his cloak aside, Blue held the gauntlet up. "I got it. There was a little trouble, but nothing we couldn't handle."

Taking the gauntlet, Grey held the crystal close to the gauntlet. Tapping what remained of the damage Iseul inflicted to the artifact, Grey sighed. "This wasn't you by any chance, was it?"

"Oh please, like I'd need a weapon to disable that thing. It came from the little trouble we ran into. Also, careful how you handle that, Red says it's sentient. It might try and stab you with a bunch of spikes."

"A sentient artifact, you say, now those are rare… and highly dangerous." Moving a hand out from under her cloak, Grey plucked a single hair. Holding it up, the limp hair straightened. "Care to donate some blood."

"Yeah, yeah." Taking the hair from Grey. Blue held it to his fingertip. The thin hair acted like a needle. Pricking his left index finger, Blue held his finger up.

As Grey held the gauntlet out. Blue pressed his finger onto the gauntlet, drawing a line. A thin line of blood was left.

"That should be enough to keep the artifact inactive until Yellow and I can get it to the buyer."

Rubbing his fingertip, Blue stared at the artifact. "What's so special about that thing anyway?"

"This little trinket?" Grey sarcastically asked, shaking the gauntlet. "Not for us to know. We just do the jobs Blue, we don't need the details." She snapped.

Hearing this, Blue cocked his head to the side. "Are you ok Grey, sure you're usually irritated at the best of times, but you seem more irritated than normal?"

Grating her teeth, Grey's tail quickly wagged as she rolled her eyes. "I'm only irritated because I have to talk to you, but." Adjusting her mask, Grey stopped as she looked out the window. "Do you know if you were followed?"

"Um, no? At least Red didn't mention anything. Does this have something to do with why you sent Yellow ahead to meet us when we got here?"

Dropping the crystal on a nearby table, the Grey fox sat back down.

Taking a moment, Grae gestured to the armchair next to her. "I'm sure you've been on your feet all day. You might as well take a moment to relax."

About to make a witty retort, Blue stopped himself. Unbuckling his sword, Blue leant it against the chair as he sat down. "Has something happened that we should know?"

"Members of the Kitsune have been attacked."

"Ok? We get attacked all the time. We're basically mercenaries, getting attacked comes with the territory."

Grey nodded. "That much is true, but these weren't any old attacks. From what Yellow and I were told, two teams had been attacked, and neither team was carrying out a contract when they were hit."

"That's, that's worrying. Who got attacked?"

"Purple and Green, Maroon and Cyan. They all came out relatively unscathed, only Cyan took any major damage, but he'll heal. The fact two teams were hit in such proximity. It can't be a coincidence."

"Did they say who attacked them? I imagine they killed all the attackers before they got a chance to question them."

"Both teams report that their attackers had the same kind of armour. Armoured gauntlets, light-armoured body, and a helmet covering their faces. They also say that as they were moving in to interrogate one, the survivors did something to themselves so that they couldn't be questioned."

"Hmm." Rubbing his neck, Blue stood up. "Let's find Red and Yellow. I'd feel safer if we're all together." He added, grabbing his sword.

Grey slightly laughed as she stood up. "It's nice to know we can both agree on things from time to time-" Grey's sentence was cut off as the fur on her coat bristled. Tightening her grip on the gauntlet, Grey prepared herself. "Something's coming!"

The sound of glass shattering brought the two's attention to the door as a small device rolled into the middle of the room, wreathed in fire.

Watching as the item began to glow, Blue took a step forward. "The hell is that-?"

The device lit up the room as the fire erupted. The device exploded into a massive fireball which burst outwards, destroying The Thirsty Cat, café.

~~

"So, are you going to stab me or not?" Making no moves to defend himself, the Red fox smiled beneath his mask.

"You know, I could ask you the same question, Red. I thought I finally got the jump on you, but then I noticed them." Looking up, Yellow's gaze came to rest on a dozen swords, all pointed directly at her. Removing her knife from Red's throat, Yellow sheathed it. "Damn, I got really excited for a moment there. I didn't see you cast those swords, did you cast them at the same time you made your barrier?"

Chuckling, Red waved his hand, causing the swords to disappear. "A magician never reveals his secret, my question still stands by the way. Rock candy?"

As Red held out his bag of candy, Yellow nodded. "Yes please." Reaching in, she took a few pieces out. Lifting her mask up slightly, Yellow put one of the candies into her mouth.

"By the way, you can just say hello, how have you been. You don't have to try and kill me all the time." Red sighed.

"Yes, I do." Yellow enthusiastically responded. "I need to see whether you're still on your game. You are getting old, after all."

"I- I'm not that old," Red muttered.

"Says the guy with white hair." Yellow snickered.

Sighing Red adjusted his mask so that it was properly covering his face, Red rolled up the bag of candy. "Aren't you supposed to be waiting with Grey at that café that she picked? What was it called, the Thirsty Cat?"

"Yeah, that was the plan, but Grey sent me ahead to get you two, there's trouble brewing. Speaking of trouble, where's Blue?"

"I told him to go ahead of me so at least one of us arrived on time. I didn't want to slow him down because of my sweet tooth." Red answered.

"I see, I see. That makes sense, it makes it really hard to track you two. You give off a large mana signature and then there's Blue, a complete polar opposite with no mana signature."

Hearing this, Red laughed. "Well, it is hard to detect someone's mana when they don't have any. Ah." Shaking his head, Red turned to face down the empty alley. "Speaking of mana. Which one do you want to take?"

"Oh please, age before beauty." Yellow quipped, stepping behind Red.

Energy began to swirl around Red's palm as he held a hand up, five orange daggers appeared in front of him. "Did you really think that would work?" Stretching his fingers, the daggers shot forwards.

Three of the daggers hit nothing, continuing to travel down the alley, the remaining two knives landed with a thud.

The illusion shattered, three men appeared in the streets. Keeling over, one of the men collapsed to the ground, two orange daggers sticking out of his chest.

"Wow, I only hit one. My aim must really be going in my old age. Hello, assassins." Red smiled, waving at the men.

The two assassins hesitated, looking at their now deceased companion. "Wh- what, there was only supposed to be one of you. How could you have detected us-" The closest assassin stammered as they drew their swords..

Ignoring the man, Red yawned as he looked up and into the orange sky. "I didn't realize how late it was getting." Stretching his arms over his head, Red began to walk away. "That's my one Yellow. We should go and find the others."

"Sure, sure." Holding her hands together, a ball of lightning began to form between her palms. Turning her attention to the two men, Yellow laughed. "You know, whoever you guys are. Make sure you send someone stronger when targeting members of the Kitsune." Pushing her palms forward, the ball of lightning burst into two bolts. Ricocheting off of the walls, the assassin's armour acted as a conductor. "I wonder if Red will give me another sweet."

The bolts of lightning struck the assassins' metal armour, arcing across their helmets, across their gauntlets. The men lasted only a few seconds before collapsing.

"Three dead assassins. Here I was hoping for more." Shrugging, Yellow scampered after Red.

As Red and Yellow left the alley. A man poked his head out from the far side of the alley, seeing that it was now empty, he proceeded to walk toward the now three dead assassins. The man's armour was similar to the assassins, a sword sheathed over his shoulder, he wore no helmet. Crouching down, he observed their wounds.

"And here I was told we would only be hunting two foxes tonight…"