Bab 632: Assassin's Assassin
"Hmmm... This should be the place...?" Riki murmurs as he looks between a crappy drawing from Michael and the skeleton door before him. Really, with how dexterous his student had become it boggled the mind at how shit he was at drawing in particular... It's either that or the boy made it so unintuitive and ugly just to mess with him... Was this revenge for all the times he'd planted his head firmly in the ground?
Riki lets out a sigh and walks towards the door, only to stop and rapidly turn towards a nearby shallow pond. "Careful, creature. I promise I'm more than you can handle." he says while giving a toothy, fanged grin.
The fiery red eyes within the pond blink a couple times before disappearing, leaving Riki to continue.
"What is the music-" the door begins rasping out but Riki interrupts it, "Be quiet and let me pass."
"You are not worthy..."
Riki shakes his head, pulling a lockpick from seemingly nowhere and reaches his arm into the right eyesocket of the door, he finds the mechanism at the upper back of it and quickly breaks through, allowing the door to swing open.
Once inside however he's greeted by the entirety of the Dark Brotherhood, their security measures warning them should anyone give the wrong passcode.
Riki looks the leading woman up and down, nodding slightly at her figure. "Astrid, I assume?"
She nods, "Rikimaru."
"Michael wasn't lying when he said you were a busty wench with an unfortunate face." Riki idly remarks, causing a vein to throb in Astrid's forehead.
"Oh, he said that did he?"
"Watch what you say to my wife, Imp." Arnbjorn, the resident Werewolf growls.
"Imp? How creative for a dog." Riki glances at Astrid, "Is it the tongue that does it for you? Or the knot?" he jokes, causing a couple Brotherhood members to chuckle, only to be quickly silenced when Astrid and Arnbjorn send glares their way.
"Enough, what do you want and why are you important enough for Michael to send you?"
"Well, I did teach him. As for what I want? I wanted to see how the 'top' assassin's guild in this world functions... Not well from what I've seen thus far. Is there a reason you all dress in skintight leather? Other than personal fetish?"
"Tradition, comfort, effectiveness. Take your pick." Astrid shrugs.
Riki hums in thought, quickly noticing one of the Brotherhood member's eyes twitch towards something nearby him. His form blurs as he turns invisible and steps to the side, quickly catching an elf-girl trying to sneak in behind him.
He appears at her side while jabbing a finger into her ribs, causing her to let out a small 'oof'. "You're quite good, girl. Better than the rest of this lot, I hadn't expected them to act like warriors instead of assassins..."
"What do you mean?" Eleril asks, realising that the Tiefling could have killed her there and then.
"They all gathered at the front entrance and confronted a would-be intruder. Not at all assassin-like, is it?"
"No, I guess not... What would you have done?" she asks, ignoring the irritated looks sent by her other Guild members.
Riki jabs two fingers at multiple shadowed areas in the hallway, "I would have taken up a position somewhere over there if I had no time to prepare. Give me five minutes and I'd have booby-trapped the entire place. My own secret hidey-hole had so many traps that I'd triggered some on myself more times than not." he admits with a chuckle before turning to her. "Say, you're the only one here I've seen with an ounce of talent. What would you say to becoming my student?"
...
"Like Michael? Because he destroyed me and Babette when we tried to ambush him..."
Riki laughs, "Yeah, like Michael."
Before Eleril can answer Astrid decides to butt in, not liking the Tiefling poaching her best assassin. "Can you just tell us what you want already? We've wasted enough time on you, something we currently have a dire lack in."
"Just wondering if you wanted an experienced assassin's assistance." he glances at Eleril, "Since I've found something worth staying for, I'd like to offer my semi-permanent membership."
"Semi-permenant?" Eleril questions.
"Until I've taught you all you need to know. It'd be a disgrace to leave such a seed unwatered, I might be an assassin but I still have my honour." he says, ignoring the fact he was standing in the midst of thirty or so assassins...
"Astrid?" Eleril asks, unsure how to answer.
...
Astrid gives a shrug, "Whatever, Michael's vouched for you so you must be worth something. Hm, let's see if you can help us with our recent assignment." she says, gesturing to the large table next to her, a thing filled to the bring with maps, papers, crudely drawn architecture designs, etc.
Riki shuffles over and balances on his tiptoes to see it all, his lack of height making a rather comical sight. "Well, you've got the information covered I suppose. Some of these seem rather out of date however." he states, lifting a building design a hundred or so years out of date if Michael's recent explanation was accurate.
Astrid sniffs, "Yes, well, gathering this much cost me far more than I'd like to admit. We also failed to uncover any unofficial plans, making any secret entrances a choir to find."
"You also seem to lack any agents around your target. The Emperor I assume? Given most of your information is on guard houses, patrols, and architectural plans surrounding the Imperial Palace of Cyrodil."
"Very smart, it's as if you have all of my plans at your fingertips." she drawls before gesturing at a corkboard on the wall, "I've already outlined a basic plan to complete this task, opinions?"
Riki goes over it and struggles to hold back his laughter, "Unless you're planning to downsize your guild, I would recommend other avenues... This plan would be suicidal even to me, it's as if you're trying to get yourselves killed." he points to the first step, "First, your entry into the Empire should not be as a group, that's just painting a target on your back. Second, utilising hidden merchant routes is screaming you're up to bad business. Third-"
Astrid and the other assassins watch and listen to Riki's lecture, quickly concluding that their previous plans were essentially just them bum-rushing the Emperor while using each other's bodies as stepladders. Needless to say, Riki was made the Operations Manager, a position he intended to make full use of.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
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