Brotherhood

The following is a fan fiction based on the Assassin's Creed Universe I make no claim of ownership other than the characters that I have invented for this story however if any other author wishes to make use of those characters please feel free to do so on the condition that you inform me beforehand and brief me on what you wish to do with said characters. Thank you, I hope you enjoy my story.

...

The night was dark and the mood was grim. Bill stood at the foot of the hospital beds of his two 'employees' with regret. Both of them were non combatant personnel and yet those Templar bastards had subjected them to the torment anyway. Both were unarmed and despite the fact that both had killed before, he really didn't think that they could handle a hidden blade with any great accuracy.

He chuckled silently to himself as the ventilator rose and fell by itself in the corner, the single source of sound in the room besides his own breathing. In a dark way it was funny, he had been preparing for this moment all his life and now? What had he been left with? The Brotherhood was outmanned and outgunned and there was all the chance that he would have to have to order that very same outgunned and outmanned Brotherhood to its death. It would only be through the actions of brave men and women would the Brotherhood and, indeed mankind survive.

Brave men and women like Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, two of the Brotherhood's best and brightest. It was Shaun who had done it, it was him whom had carried Rebecca two and a half miles in the pouring rain. He had done it on injuries that numbered in a broken leg and a cracked skull at least. She was the lucky one and he still took care of her.

"Excuse me sir?" A man dressed in scrubs said quietly as he entered the room. Bill tensed up for a moment but then relaxed as he saw the hospital bed that the surgeon dragged behind him.

"Yes Dottore, how can I help you?" Bill replied as the Doctor set Rebecca's bed next to Shaun's and hooked her up to the hospital's IV system.

"There's a slight irregularity with your information. The hospital lists you as a reference for both Mr Hastings and Ms Crane but it doesn't give a connection between you."

"They are my students...I'm a professor of Architecture at The University of Cambridge and these are my post graduate students. Surely you've heard of me? Professor William..."

"Oh, yes. Now I see...I'm sorry for the inconvenience sir, professor." Though he didn't allow himself to express it physically Bill smiled as the Doctor quickly made his apologies and toddled off. Only stopping to inform him that her injuries weren't as extensive as previously believed. She'd be awake within a couple of hours.

For time that seemed to stretch on forever Bill sat in the hospital room looking at the unconscious Assassins that lay in front of him, occasionally shifting his attention to the heavy rainfall against the window or the re-runs of Friends badly dubbed in Italian that seemed to run in marathon at that time of night. From time to time he wondered if Isabelle would have fared as badly as he had, when she was alive all they order had to worry about was concealment; she would have known what to do. If she were alive the Brotherhood would be winning.

Bill's attention was dragged away from the two young people by a silent knock at the door.

"Bill, it's good to see that you got out alive...how are they?" The knocker asked. She was a Latino woman of no more than five foot eleven. Her eyes were green, like grass in summer and her hair was blacker than the darkest night. Her hair was blacker than that night.

"They'll both survive Danielle, although I'm not exactly comfortable with them being here in such a public facility." The female Assassin flinched at the use of her name.

"I'll have them both moved to the Fatebenefratelli Hospital tomorrow morning." She said coldly. In the background of the room a single heart monitor beeped to itself. "Has there been any news from any of the survivors from the attack on Absterg..."

"Isabelle is dead." Bill said. He was struggling to cry as he said it but he couldn't, he needed to be strong for The Order. The two Assassins stood over the two unconscious Assassins for what felt like hours. Danielle was shocked but she knew that Bill was taking it worse. She put her arm on his shoulder. He turned his head towards her and smiled. "Thank you...but don't, there will be time to mourn later."

They talked in that room for a little longer before Danielle left. They talked about the mundane things in life; how Aunty 'Izzy' and Uncle 'Bill' had met, how Danielle had been a flower girl at their wedding and how, when Bill was younger he had a fear of public speaking and how Isabelle taught him to work through it by telling him to "Just say it to me". They talked about the cancellation of the British soap opera Coronation Street before they moved onto the more relevant matters at hand. What Abstergo was planning, what they had done with the Apple of Eden, what had Lucy Stillman found? These were dark times indeed.

"Hey, who...who the hell are you?" Bill pulled his chair closer to Rebecca's bed as she uttered her first words after waking up. He smiled at her as he did so. She was still groggy as she pulled herself out of unconsciousness but he felt that he could talk to her.

"Good morning Miss Crane. My name is Bill, like you and Mister Hastings I am an Assassin."

"I'm gonna need some more proof than that 'Bill'."She said. The Old man groaned to himself and then pulled off his wedding ring. In the centre of a black band was a clear representation of an Assassin symbol made of unburned flesh.

"Nothing is true." He began to which Rebecca replied with a slight smile "Everything is permitted." She exhaled in relief.

"So you're from Headquarters...right?"

"No, I'm from Arizona. I only work at Headquarters." He chuckled at his own joke but quickly gave up after he noticed her reaction.

"How's Shaun doing?"

"He suffered massive injuries but he'll survive, and he's proven himself a real hero...whether or not he believes himself to be one of 'The Good Guys'." Once again, Bill wrinkled smile greeted the still weak Rebecca. For the first time she smiled back at him. "We've had quite a few debates over the years."

"How far did he..."

"Two and a half, with a broken leg."

"Wow..."

"Yeah." He said silently.

"What about Baby?"

"We've taken The Animus back to Headquarters for further study." Rebecca didn't seem to agree with this, she probably had some sort of attachment to the machine but Bill didn't have time to care.

"So what happens now?" She asked.

"We've got a man impersonating a Doctor who has requested a transfer of you and Shaun to the facility on Tiber Island..."

"Tiber Island? Ezio's old place?"

"Well, there has been some construction...and it's now hidden within a hospital, but yes The Brotherhood does still own the lease to the land."He chuckled as he spoke, as the absurdity of owning a lease on a building for four hundred years settled in.

"For what it's worth Bill, thanks. There aren't many of us left and it's nice that The Order's pulled together for two of it's...tech support."

"No, don't say thanks. I would have done it for anyone under my command. I love hospitals, in a way...reminds me of where my son was born."

"Desmond." He smiled at her weekly as she caught on. His hand shifted, adopted the gesture of a gun.

"Bull's-eye" He said with a grin and pulled his hand as if to shoot the gun. "How...how, how is he?"

"Deteriorating. This thing with the Animus is really doing a number on him." She said apprehensively. "It doesn't look good Bill."

"How long do you think he has before the damage becomes permanent?"

"You mean if it isn't already permanent?" Bill groaned at her reply. He couldn't, no, he wouldn't dare think of the consequences. He had seen what had happened with Subject Sixteen. He wouldn't let it happen to Desmond. "A couple of days, maybe less but I'd be a lot more comfortable if he never went in again."

"Thank you for being honest with me Rebecca, thank you...If a member of the Order hasn't collected you by the time that Shaun wakes up could you brief him for me?"

"Yes off course but, where are you going?" She said as he stood up and returned his seat to its previous place.

"The Mentor is dead. She was killed in a failed rescue mission, and as The Templars have been spending the past year subjecting us to Genocidal purges. We don't have a council from which to elect a new Mentor so for the time being I am taking command of the Brotherhood." He said solemnly. "We're gathering at Tiber Island, all of us. They have the Apple of Eden now so there's no point looking for The Temples...at least, not until we have a map."

A tense week passed as the Assassin's gathered in Rome from around the world whilst Bill busied himself with work and intelligence gathering. Dogen's team was the first to arrive in the city. All dressed up in suits and drunker than sailors they were the stereotypical representations of a group of Japanese businessmen on holiday. Bill questioned the logic in getting that drunk in order to blend in, he said that Templar agents could have killed them but only laughed the next morning when Dogen 's men expressed their hung over wish that they had.

Though his and his men's entrance into the city was less than professional Dogen was a warrior without exception, his grandfather had been in the vicinity of the Hiroshima Bomb on a mission for The Brotherhood and had lived, if only for a little while. It was that that Dogen drew his inspiration. If the Templars were willing to throw around so much reckless hate in order to keep up pretence he must be all the deadlier that they never get the chance to do so again.

Scattered remnants of the Moscow team had been arriving since the call; Yuri and Ivanna were the only two that were in any shape to do battle though. Nicholaus' eye had been removed from its socket by Abstergo torturers whilst Natasha was dealing with the effects of a miscarriage at a Hospital in Moscow. Bill was confident that she was physically safe however, it's not like Prime Minister Puttin would allow his favourite secretary to come to harm from 'Various Criminal Factions'. He was worried about her but he didn't have the time to visit one Assassin in a far off country. Maybe after the crisis, if it ever did end, but no, for now she was on her own.

Bill couldn't have claimed that he was happy with the size of the Sao Paolo Team, especially when counting the hundred and seven novice's that had been recruited from the orphans and the homeless and although Ricardo never explained how he had managed to get a boeing seven four seven pilot to shepherd all of them, Bill was still happy to have 'Padre' Alpert and his flock of Eagles with them in Rome.

Unfortunately the hour was getting late and there was still no sign of the Denver Team. There was no clue as to their whereabouts until the news enlightened them to four murders in the vicinity of Denver. Each of them had been nailed to a wall with their ring fingers removed. To the rest of the world it was the work of a hate group but to Bill and The Brotherhood it was all too clear. He was shocked when he saw the image of Jacob Peart, the leader of the Denver Team and the best man at Bill's wedding on television, cold and lifeless and nailed to the side of a mosque. It was just another reminder though; of the price that each of them might have to pay to fight injustice.

For the next few days survivor groups poured into Rome, most of them from sanctuaries like The Farm, where Desmond had been born but there were a few outriders such as Laura (The Order's watchman in South Africa).

Bill sat in front of the fire in the central chamber of the guild. He wondered if Ezio Auditorie De Firenze had sat where he sat now, what thoughts had gone through his ancestors head with his order around him. What would Ezio do? No, Bill didn't have time to wonder what a dead man or Isabelle would do. He was The Mentor now, a man who trusted his motives and his actions who lived and died by The Creed. He couldn't question himself.

The headquarters was almost full to the brim with refugee Assassins from around the globe, about a hundred and fifty to two hundred all in all. Though he was loath to gather them all in one place it was all they could do in these dark days, clearly being scattered about the globe had not worked and so it was only logical that having all of the Brotherhood together would have a better chance of survival. Most of them weren't based at the headquarters in earnest, quite a few of the teams for example had hotel rooms booked out under aliases whilst Ricardo's novices' preferred to scatter themselves around the city for their own protection.

He smiled as he looked up at the ancient tapestries that hung from the ceilings bearing the symbol of The Brotherhood. Hung by Machiavelli and maintained by subsequent generations the colours had darkened but they still stood as grand as in those ancient days. Behind him he could hear the sounds of children's laughter, the gossip of the old and the technical jargon of the order's technicians.

"We're finally going to meet The Mentor." One Child, a boy said.

"I heard it's a woman..." One old woman said from the other side of the room.

The noise was all but drowning when he heard Danielle announce that it was time for them to gather in the hall. When she was a child Isabelle's sister had complained that she was too loud when she threw a tantrum but at that moment in time Bill was thankful for the pair of lungs that she had been given.

As a group they left the dark central hall of the building and piled into the meeting hall that led through the armoury. As the sound of the footsteps drew quieter his pulse quickened and he panicked. What would his ancestors think of him now? The Mentor who was afraid to speak without his wife to back him up-they'd think he's pathetic.

"Il Mentore, The Brotherhood awaits your word." He turned around to see Danielle standing behind him with her arm outstretched.

"Yes, yes I'll be there in a moment." He said weakly. Startled, she got down onto her knees.

"Bill, are you alright?"

"Yes it's just...I'm afraid, I'm not sure what to say and I'm afraid of getting everyone in that room killed." Taken back by his honesty she smiled at him.

"Mentor...Bill, we are a Brotherhood. We are never alone, one of us is only as strong as the whole. We support each other for the betterment of all mankind." She thought to herself. "But, you have to remember that you're not talking to a group. You're talking to a room full of individuals, like me. So no matter what happens, no matter what you say; just say it to me."

...

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My Name is William Miles, the Mentor. The previous Mentor was killed during a raid on a Templar installation not three weeks ago." He cleared the lump in his throat. "As some of you are aware despite our best efforts The Templars, Abstergo have managed to acquire one of the Pieces of Eden and what's worse, they have captured two of ours; our sister, Lucy Stillman and my son, Desmond Miles."

As he spoke he scanned his eyes across the crowd, never stopping until he noticed the wheelchair bound Shaun Hastings with his constant companion Rebecca Crane standing next to him.

"I thought that a retrieval of the object, and a rescue attempt was impossible; that the truth of the matter was that Abstergo was impregnable. But then I remembered that Nothing is true, that we are Assassins and that we have something that the Templars don't. We need to succeed or else mankind would fall to darkness forever." He took one last deep breath.

"No one should feel obligated to join this mission in any way. This is a decision I have made for myself, anyone who wishes to is welcome to join me! Let there be no illusions; this is likely to be a one-way trip! So don't volunteer out of sentiment or emotion. Everyone who wishes to join me walk forward, everyone else take one step back. Make your choice!" He spoke with all the conviction that he had left in him. He spoke to Isabelle, to Danielle, to Dogen, to Ricardo, to Yuri, to Ivanna and to all the others.

"Thank you, you can leave now until instructed." He said to the Assassins who hadn't volunteered. Eight volunteered for the mission, eight would aid in the rescue of Desmond and Lucy and the Apples' theft. William was proud to lead them all; Danielle, Dogen, Anna, Sofia, Ricardo and Lucia whilst Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings would take up the tech support reigns. Now confident that the hall was empty except for the volunteers William Miles spoke up again.

"Let's get to work."