The hum of the engine was lulling Dean to sleep, but Anatoly nudged him to keep awake.
"Stay awake, man, we're almost at the checkpoint!" He whispered in his slight Serbian accent. Dean straightened his back and checked his gear. He tightened the straps on his knife holster, secured the silenced Makarov on his left thigh, and pulled up his hood. He looked around the van's compartment, at his fellow assassins.
To his left was Anatoly, his closest partner. He wore his hair closely shaved to his head, which showed a long scar running from the center of his scalp down his right temple. Anatoly was Dean's partner on many other missions before, and a strong bond grew between them after Anatoly saved his life in the firefight that broke out when trying to reclaim a "Subject 17" in a enemy facility raid three months before. Across from him was Bill, a heavily built man with strong features. He was securing his equipment to his flak vest as he zipped up his duffel bag. In the center of the van was Amanda, a short brunette who was the team's coordinator. She sat cross legged on the floor of the van with a laptop in front of her, her fingers dancing across the keyboard only leaving from their station to grab the can of energy drink that sat next to her.
Suddenly, the van slowed, everyone jerked forward, Amanda's drink almost tipping over. Without a word spoken, Bill opened the back doors and they filed out, all except for Amanda, who would direct them through their mission. About 200 meters west of their position was their objective, a 100 foot tall concrete wall that surrounded a white building with blue glazed windows. They were to break into the Abstergo facility and collect "The Package", some important object that would supposedly help turn the tides in their Cold War.
"Testing headset connection," Amanda's calm, cool voice crackled to life in his earpiece, "Alright, first objective is to breach the perimeter… More info when you get there. Oh, and Dean? Use your… Talent to help."
He knew what she meant, as did Anatoly and Bill. He had what the Assassin's called "Eagle Vison", sort of a sixth sense that helped him distinguish his targets from the world around them. The trio set out through the forest that surrounded the perimeter of the enemy fortress.
They approached the wall and inspected it for a way up. Bill, being the strong silent type, pointed towards a tower overlooking the inner courtyard. Anatoly took point and started climbing, stepping up the wall and pushing off, dangling off a light post, and pulled himself up to grab the window sill that lead inside the tower.
Just as he was about to pull himself up, the headset crackled to life. "Be careful! Guards are on high alert for some reason. Security has been doubled… stay in the dark." A watch guard leaned on the window sill, the same one Anatoly was dangling from.
"Shall I take him out?" Anatoly whispered, "Quickly! I'm losing grip! Dean flashed him the okay hand signal. Anatoly pulled himself up slightly, grabbed the collar of the guard, who struggled for his breath and balance, and was dragged out the window, falling fifteen feet, landing back first on a log with a thump. Bill ran up to him. He was still alive, coughing up blood, but still alive. Anatoly pulled himself inside of the control room. "Setting up a hacking module, you'll be our eyes, Mandy". Dean cringed at the fact his best friend used his sister's pet name. A few minutes pass, the distant sounds of guards chatter and crickets chirping resonated in the background.
"Hacking's done, you should be able to access the compound using a keycard off of that guard as well." He peaked out the window and flashed the other two the room secured signal. Dean cut the key card off of the guard's belt, Bill nodded and proceeded to scale the wall.
Dean pulled himself over the railing. He scoped out the main entrance, twelve guards and a janitor. Behind the janitor was a door, probably leading into a maintenance hall. Anatoly was helping pull Bill up over the wall's railing, whose equipment hindered his freerunning abilities.
"Next objective; break in and find the Package." Bill dropped the duffel bag ,assembled his rifle and patted down his vest. "You need help, you call me," he said with his slight hispanic accent, waving a detonator in his hand. Dean and Anatoly acknowledged by giving him the okay signal as they ran the opposite direction, towards their next objective.
Suddenly, a man's voice was heard, "Wilson! I repeat, are you still at your post?" They ducked low, a patrol of two men were directly below them. One had a radio, tall and large, while his partner was short and well built. He released the button on his two-way,"I swear to God, He's going to get in deep shit if the boss catches him AWOL again," He told his partner, who shrugged.
Dean spoke into his earpiece, "Permission to use lethal force?" he asked his sister. It took her a while to respond, but eventually her voice crackled into his earpiece, "HQ Gives it the A-Ok." Anatoly turned to Dean, they both nodded, and approached the ledge of the wall.
The Serb whispered, "I'll take the fat one, you take the short one." Dean pat his friend's back for approval. Anatoly unholstered his silenced .50 cal handgun and aimed down its ironsights while Dean flicked his wrist knife out. "Take 'em out on three," Dean said, "One, two…" Anatoly pulled the trigger, the massive round ripped through the air into the guard's ear without a sound. He died before he hit the ground. Before the other guard could call for reinforcements Dean leaped from the railing and landed on top of the guard, the knife plunged into his throat. Dean got up and flicked the knife back as Anatoly dropped and rolled behind him. The two dragged the bodies and threw them into a dumpster situated next to the cold concrete wall of the facility.
"Take the maintenance room entrance," Amanda's voice piped up over the eerie silence, "that's the quickest way towards the room containing the Package."
They had a chance to move towards the door, left open by the janitor who took a drag on his cigarette, but Bill's voice crackled into his ear, "A large patrol is spotted around the corner of your position, Someone must have seen you two!" It was odd hearing a hint of worry in Bill's voice, so the two quickly darted behind a bulkhead. Anatoly peered around to see a group of six people, and a look of confusion flashed across his face. This didn't seem like any normal type of guard troupe, they weren't wearing the standard grey and yellow Abstergo guard uniform. They wore street clothes; some with jackets, some wore hoodies, but all wore an armband with a number on it. Curious, Dean strained his eyes, activating his Eagle Vision. Suddenly, the background became dark and misty. Anatoly had a bright blue glow surrounding him, showing him as an ally. Dean looked up at the group, expecting the usual red, which annotated anyone with ill intentions, but no… They blended in with the background, a grey-blue. They huddled together for a couple of seconds, then ran off in all directions in groups of two, as if they were looking for something… or someone. With two of the street-guards coming towards the position and no time, Anatoly and Dean jumped into the dumpster, the two dead guards still warm under them. As the guards passed, they noticed the blood on the floor, stopping their patrol. One stooped down and ran his fingers through the blood patch, the other talked into her headset. The headset guard patted her partner on the back, broke into a sprint and climbed the wall that Dean and Anatoly were on minutes before.
Dean turned to Anatoly, " Some sort of special guard group is around… They might prove a threat. If you see them, take them out." Anatoly nodded. They snuck towards the door, choked out the janitor in a sleeper hold, and crept into the back halls of the facility…