Assassination Onslaught!

Assassination Onslaught! is the fourth episode of the first series of The Zany Adventures of Ho-Ip, written by The Boy Who Cried Godzilla.

Synopsis
When Bapho-Ip is discovered, The Order is furious and sends the assassins to eliminate the target, but not all goes as planned...

Story
Gro-Che squinted his eye at the moonlight seeping through the bay door as it lifted. The three moons being at their full phases made for an unideal night for hunting. All the same, he did The Order’s bidding, just as he always had. His comrades Ko-Tok and Ta-Kon marched drudgingly along beside him. They had been doing this for years, but, Gro-Che reasoned that no Ohpinian, Mutant or otherwise was meant to get up this early and be expected to do their job at their fullest capacity. They all stepped into the dewey twilight, breathing in the dampness that the night had brought. They had ample time until dawn, and as such had ample operating hours for the grim task ahead.

They had all heard the news story. Not seen it, of course, they had never really been aware of video broadcasts in all their lives. The Grandmaster had not been happy about the fact that the creature they had deemed insignificant had turned into more than they had presumed, and ordered an execution immediately. Ko-Tok still had trouble walking after the reprimandation he had received. They had had come dangerously close to failure on some early missions, which, in his fury, The Grandmaster seemed to imply had been simulations. It was at that moment that Gro-Che descended deeper into doubt. The Grandmaster had told them that they were real assassinations, and that their simulations had ended by that time. It stood to reason that there could easily be more lies spread across The Grandmaster’s plans, and even The Order itself. Before all this nonsense with the little green thing the very notion that The Order was imperfect and deceptive would have been preposterous, but the more Gro-Che saw of the world, the more he began to question.

The swimmers Ko-Tok and Ta-Kon opted to head to the mountain by sea, while Gro-Che was left to his usual means of transportation, hopping through the trees. But for the first time in his young life, Gro-Che began to wonder what exactly The Order was.

Ko-Tok and Ta-Kon didn’t talk to each other, what with their being underwater the entire journey, but they too, began to wonder how The Order played into their lives, and what little they had seen of the world at large. Ta-Kon slowly stalked out of the water and saw Ko-Tok had made ground a little way downstream. They met up with each other at the mouth of what was left of a long neglected mountain trail, which they would begin to climb once Gro-Che caught up. It was likely to be a minute or two. Despite this unspoken figuring, Gro-Che was almost immediately standing with them as a few leaves teetered down from where the bird mutant had disturbed them.

“You ready?” he asked. “To murder a helpless freak that turns into some kind of homicidal maniac helpless freak? Of course.” replied Ta-Kon. “I… I guess.” answered Ko-Tok. “Well… uh… I guess we move out then. Full-on attack mode?” “What else could we do?”, and the sarcastic croc moved on up the trail in silence. It was a decent hike to the top of the cloven peak, but it was still dark enough for them to operate effectively, though Ko-Tok and the others suspected that there wouldn’t be for long. The oasis in the valley at the top was breathtaking. The moonlight reflected off the glassy lake, which reflected the fruit tree at its center, resembling a root system that seemed to reach down into another world that extended beneath their own. Glittering moonspores danced through the air like little jellyfish as they drifted along looking to take root. They all took a moment to appreciate the beauty, but through their dumbfoundedness they never realized that their query was there too.

“You have come to kill me.” It said. “We’ve been compromised. There’s no way out now.”, whispered Gro-Che, preparing for a confrontation. “I disagree, brothers. Come and sit with me.” the silhouette spread its arms to indicate the ground around it.

Ko-Tok looked to Gro-Che for confirmation, but the young hawk didn’t need to say anything for them to know. “Hm. A pity. Although I expected no less. Your trainers have done their job well.” And with that, the three assassins, with their edge of unexpected attack shattered, fired forward in an attack triangle formation. The new and dangerous Ho-Ip turned on them, his shining white eyes swirling as if filled with steam and emitting mist. A range of colors seemed to sweep the air around his form like the sun passing through crystal. The assassins hurled their tiny bodies at the assailant. Gro-Che flung toxic darts from the straps on his ankles, but Ho-Ip seemed to stop them with his mind. The more they threw themselves at the target, the more they began to realize that the target did not seem to be engaging them. “I wonder. How might children such as yourselves have come to be a part of The Order? The Watchers?”

It was enough to make Gro-Che think. They had only ever known The Order. They were mutants created by The Order. They were assassins for The Order. That was all their life was. Or was it? “You have seen, brothers, the results of trying to build an Ohpinian to mutate from nothing. I see the questions in your hearts. It has been some time since you have been tools of The Order. We are bound.” Ta-Kon was doing his best not to listen. His jaws flapped wildly at the goat-man, and seemed to be getting closer with every attack, though he guessed that it may have been his imagination. “Have you never wondered where your names, Gro-Che, Ko-Tok, and Ta-Kon come from? They are not names befitting of test tube experiments.” Ta-Kon was the first to break. “What are you saying?” “Come and sit, and I shall tell you your story.” “What story? W-We’re weapons of The Order.” “And what is The Order?” Gro-Che and Ta-Kon had yielded their attacks, whether for exhaustion, respect for Ta-Kon they didn’t know, but they too were enticed by the creature. The colors swirling around his darkened form in the bluish glow of the moon, with the moonspores drifting amidst them brought them to peace. Ho-Ip gently placed his hand on Ta-Kon’s cheek and he was filled with a despair that was almost palpable in the night air. “Oh, my child. There is much pain in your wake.”

The assassins felt as Ho-Ip felt. His colorful aura brought to them emotions they had never been taught to feel. Their minds raced with the atrocities they had committed since they were born. They were children who had seen more death than the oldest adults. Gro-Che witnessed the removal of his eye when he was a screaming infant, his feathers still slimy from the incubator tube. What had they planned for him? Ko-Tok saw music. It was as if he was experiencing living for the first time in his brief years on the planet. The tones of woe and of infinite depth brought him to realize what it was that Ho-Ip meant. Ta-Kon sat in silence. He did not understand. He could not understand. “What… what did you show me?” “The truth of The Order, my child.” “They… They stole me?” “From your cradle in the night. They craved your genes after they got a hold of your brother.” “M-my what?” Ta-Kon’s voice was begining to catch. “We were taken from our parents?”, asked Gro-Che quietly. “I am afraid not, Gro-Che. Your families were assassinated.” “I… I don’t understand… Why would they kill people for us?” “They take what they want. That is all there is to it.” “Y-you said I have a brother. Is he… is he still alive?”, asked Ta-Kon. “Oh, Ta-Kon. Yes, your family lives, but… That is not a mercy compared to what has happened to them. Your brother was one of the first taken by The Order. He was stolen and when your parents came to check on him, all they found was… a pile of money.”

Ho-Ip sounded distant, and stared into the moonlight. It seemed to Gro-Che that he might be seeing what he told them for the first time as well, or at least this aspect.

“Is that why they started killing them? To save money?”, asked Ko-Tok, who was still exiting his musical trance. “The Order controls the money. It is of no object to them. Your parents live deep in the country. I can take you to them.”

At this moment a single tear fell from the crocodile’s eye. At a certain point in an Ohpinian’s development, they undergo a type of metamorphosis in which they begin to take on the traits of their unique adult form, however, due to the tampering in the assassins DNA, and their sharing the DNA, and traits of various alien creatures, none could be quite sure what would happen when the mutants passed this milestone, but they were all about to find out. They watched Ta-Kon grow upward from the low and vaguely spherical form he had known for all of his few years. He stood about as tall as Ho-Ip now, and was on two fully grown hind legs. He knelt on the ground as his tears continued to fall. His reptilian body was covered in sporadic patches of feathers. Bright yellow feathers.

“Show me.” was all he said.

Monsters

 * Bapho-Ip
 * Gro-Che
 * Ta-Kon
 * Ko-Tok