"Mentor! Mentor!" A handful of young Ottoman recruits rushed towards Ezio, who had just walked into the den after a long mission and was really not in the mood for their childish actions, especially this late at night. He pulled his hood off and pinched the bridge of his nose, a sign to tell them this was not the time. He waved them off and tried to leave the room, but a young female recruit (whose name he had yet to learn) grabbed onto his sleeve and hung on for dear life. Ezio sighed, shaking her off. Where were the high level recruits? He looked the group over, taking note of something suddenly.

"Didn't you all leave on a patrol mission with Yusuf? Where is he?" it's his turn to babysit, Ezio thought. These were recruits Yusuf took a liking to, thought they were easier to train because they needed someone to trust.

He saw some recruits look away, tears in their eyes. He too began to grow worried. "What? what happened?" The young woman gripped his hand this time.

"Mentor...we were on a mission and he said he'd meet us back here...but he didn't show up...we looked all over but we didn't find anything! All the other recruits are on missions out of the city, so we've been alone here trying to plan out where he might be." She leaned into him. "Please...we don't know what else to do."

Ezio slowly put his arm around her, the others awing at how calm he was acting. But inside he was panicing.

Where was he? What could have happened? This wasn't like him. "When did you return to the hideout?"

"About two hours ago." Someone called from the small group.

If this was a prank, it was going a bit far. He let go of the young woman, who walked slowly back into the open armed group.

"Alright. All of you, stay here. Maybe he'll come back. I'm going out to look. In a few moments the master assassins will come back-tell them what you told me. They'll be out across the city in no time." A few of them gave him a nod. Others were truly ashamed and upset and gave no response. He offered them a smile.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine. How far could he have gone?"

Ezio left their base, and sure enough there were three higher level recruits outside the door. They tried to tell Ezio about their success, but he interuppted and informed them of their new task. They set out immediately.

Ezio combed the rooftops of the area where the patrol had been. He jumped from one rooftop to the next, using any zipline he could; until he stopped.

One zipline was not present. He looked to the post where the rope would be tied to-it had been cut. With a knife, maybe. Ezio looked over to the other side of the roof. Had he fallen? Probably. Was he still there? No, not by the look of it. He peered across to the opposite rooftop, using Eagle Sense. Was that...blood? His eyes widened. It was only a bit, but yes, there was blood. Without another thought he whistled. Withing minutes his recruits appeared.

"Span out! At this point Yusuf could be anywhere in the city!" They nodded and left.

Ezio decided to go the farthest. To the docks, maybe? Really, how far could he have been taken?

To his dismay there were three Janissaries standing by the dock prisons, where they kept drunkards and petty thieves. But why would such strong guards be placed here? He decided not to take any chances. He raised his fist and clenched it, whistling. Arrows came swooping down and they were all taken out at once. Innocent bystanders screamed and ran. Whoever was in there was out in plain sight now.

He didn't want to believe it, but there he was. Sitting in a corner, not moving a muscle. Ezio tensed, quickly dropping to the ground and rushing over to him. He practically broke the lock trying to pick it. It dropped with a clank. Shoving the door aside he ran in, dropping to his knees.

"Yusuf. Yusuf, get up." He jostled his friend's shoudlers. Nothing. He was out cold. Ezio carefully opened one of his closed eyes. He didn't like what he found. Yusuf had a glassy look, unfocused-probably from when he landed on the street, or maybe hit in the head with something.

Ezio remembered the blood spot on the roof, and where that had come from was clear-Yusuf had a bloody nose. He deduced that the line had been cut when he was nearing the other roof and going quite fast. He looked down to undo the ropes around his ankles and found both hands rested on his leg.

Al diavolo, he probably broke it. He cut the ropes on Yusuf's wrists and gingerly picked him up. He whistled as best he could without the help of his hand, recruits appearing almost out of nowhere. They tried not to look worried when they saw Yusuf in their mentor's arms.

"Scout ahead. I need the path to be clear. One of you run and get a doctor-tell him to come back to the den." He shifted Yusuf in his arms. "It's urgent." And off they went.