July, 1512, Istanbul

It was a hot day in Constantinople; the merchants, when they could, took off accessories that weren't necessary in their clothes just to get more fresh, the romany's music resounded in the streets like ancient chants from a forgotten civilization and the fumes of the burning incense, that were located in almost porch and alley of Galata, were making the air even more heavy. However, there were not only two, but a numerous group of individuals, where the weather was not a big problem.

The assassins were jumping the rooftops with great speed, along with the mentor of the Italian Brotherhood and the leader of the Turkish Guild, because they had received the notification that one of their Dens, located in the most cosmopolitan area of Istanbul, Galata, was being assaulted by byzantine soldiers. But the arrival to the place would not take too long, due to their great acrobatic skills and the smart shortcuts.

When they reached the place, the first cluster of byzantines was already annihilated by the assassins already present. Ezio was quick giving orders to his companions who had traveled with him, placing them in strategically and favorable spots: on the roofs, in the barricades and also in improvised balcony windows.

Behind Ezio, the leader of the Hassassins of Istanbul was looking at his recruits forming the positions that were given by Ezio. He sighed, as he was leading his hands to the bomb pocket. What type of bomb was more favorable for the second line of byzantines? If he chose an impact one, it could mortally hit the assassins that were located in the barricades; a smoking bomb was also useless in this situation as it would cut the eyesight both for the attackers and for the defender of the Den. It only remained one type of bomb: the distortion bomb.

Yusuf laughed a little and took from his back-pocket a gold and round bomb, which fit perfectly in his hand. He placed himself next to Ezio and gave him a nudge at the same time he said:

"Mentore, watch this!"

He threw the bomb in the direction of the cluster of byzantines, which fell right into the middle of the group. When it exploded, the guards did not feel pain, but they were not able to contain the panic when they saw their clothes soaked in blood. They scream frightened, thinking that they were been hit and they ran into ridiculous directions, like dizzy cockroaches, which made the crossbowmen and riflemen a better shooting precision. In a short period of time, the second line was exterminated just with one bomb filled with lamb blood.

They all knew that the next row of soldiers weren't going to be that easy to defeat. Through his experience in defending forts, Ezio ordered that all riflemen that were located behind the improvised barricade went to the rooftops. Now, for the defense of the Den, they had about five riflemen both sides of the street, three crossbowmen in the rooftops and an air assassin, to help Ezio controlling the companions. In the stoned wall, there were two shooters and an assassin, as a grenade-launcher.

Not so far away was heard, almost in whispers, something like heavy and mechanic rolling on the ground. Ezio's suspicions were now confirmed: there were not going to arrive another exposed row of byzantines, but a tank, probably with them inside.

Yusuf crossed his look with the mentor and nodded. With a short laugh - very Yusuf – he jumped for a roof crack of a chimney and with the help of his Hookblade, a tool to help climbing buildings, he slipped from a rope, taking less than one minute to reach the other side of the street.

The tank finally reached its destiny. It was made of a very strong wood, with the shape of an inverted cone, so called "turtle" form. It was one of the great inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, a person that Ezio saw like a best friend. He sighed, melancholic, as his effort trying to destroy the war projects, at the request of «Leo» was, apparently, in vain.

The leaders gave, then, order to start the fire, shooting a cannon ball. In spite of not having effect on the tank, the morale of the assassins soared. It could be heard war cries between brothers, which harmonized that scene of walls destroyed, sounds of shots and arrows and dead bodies on the ground. Worse than that, the heat of a centered sun was not helping at all: their bodies were soaked in sweat, the muscles were giving signals of weakness and sometimes the weapons were slipping out of the hands, which provoke some failures in shooting for some crossbowmen. For that desert heat was not sufficient, the tank had destroyed the improvised wall, causing the death of those were there by crushing.

An assassin, with his face hidden with a mask appeared next to Ezio. When he looked at him, the masked saluted the mentor with the typical bow of the assassins – he raised his fist on the left side of the chest and lowed a bit his head – and declared with an efficient tone.

"Mentore, it is an honor to meet you. Yusuf is asking the orders you have for us."

"Tell him to wait for my signal. Go, brother!"

He nodded and took the same shortcut like his master, jumping for a rope and sliding with an hookblade for Yusuf's rooftop. Ezio could show a smile on his face watching Yusuf acting like an angry teenager, however getting a plan to destroy the thank was his biggest priority.

The tank had already destroyed two barricades and the numbers of dead bodies of both sides were almost uncountable. But, as the luck blessed that very moment, the tank shocked against a platform that was holding a bag full of rock tiles, making it fall onto the center of the tank, which was already weakened with the number of arrows, cannon balls and shots that was subjected. The impact of the bag in the tank was violent, and it resulted the death of many byzantines. It could be seen some of the survivors trying to escape, in pain.

The eyes of Ezio and Yusuf crossed with one propose: it was the great opportunity to destroy the tank, for good. Ezio wondered in the possibility of going down and eliminate all the guards were still alive, but his fifty years old, in such a delicate situation like this one, could betrayed him. So, he gave signal for Yusuf to finish, but when was still raising his hand to give the signal, there was Yusuf, with an explosive-type grenade on the hand jumping in the direction of the tank. His jump was perfect and he did not take too long placing the grenade inside of the tank and defending of a byzantine, putting his hidden blade inside of the enemy's throat. He gave another jump to climb the building, inserting the hookblade on an intact zone of the platform. With the precision of a young but experienced assassin, he rapidly reached one of many improvised balcony window. The bomb that Yusuf chose it was not for having a long-distance impact, but for only detonate and destroy the inside's tank. When the times came to an end, the tank exploded, along with the Templars who did not had time to escape. You could see the last line of guards when Yusuf came down to the ground and shouted with his arms raised.

"Kardeşlerim (my brothers)! Come, and we shall finish this battle, glorious, because we fight for freedom, we fight for our cause!"

The cries of the brothers and sisters echoed on the street and they started to get down, including Ezio. When he placed himself by his side, Yusuf held his fists on the mentor's shoulders and said.

"Tell me Ezio, tell me you aren't missing this!" he laughed.

Ezio smirked and run at a guard that was in front of him. In the moment that Ezio executed an air jump and stuck his hidden blade on the templar's jugular, the other assassins ran at the enemy's direction and provoke the same deaths. The fourth and last line of byzantines was rapidly exterminated, but the victory was only saluted when Yusuf lit the fire in the tower and executed a leap of faith.