I do not own Assassin's Creed or its characters. It all belongs to the excellent team at Ubisoft.

The streets of Rome had begun to rouse from the sleep of the night; rumors of the Vatican being breached and the Pope assaulted were beginning to make its way through the gossipers. Groups of citizens began to appear and head to work, worry and disbelief etched on their faces at the rumors they could not confirm.

The sudden yells through the street caused many groups to glance up from the discussions. Many of them cried out in surprise as they were shoved aside by a man clothed in white. The snobbish nobles were quick to express their disgust to the thought of contact with lower-class mongrel, brushing off whatever might have gotten on them during the short contact. Before they could gather back together to gossip on how guards should treat slaves who run about like that, guards pushed the nobles aside in the same fashion.

It never ceased to amaze Ezio on why the guards bothered to carry such heavy weaponry. Especially when they could not use it on someone they could not catch up to. A sudden cry ahead snapped his attention back to where he was running towards. More guards had appeared from the streets ahead and cut off Ezio's escape path. The assassin slowed down, it would not be wise to run his self through with their sharpened blades and spear tips. The Templars surrounded him in a tight circular formation, sly grins making their way up their faces due to their success.

With a flick of his wrist, the Hidden Blades appeared with a smooth -shick-. He grinned on the inside as he heard the guard's exclamations as twin blades now extended from Ezio's wrist. The sound of his boots scraping against the ground rang out as he adjusted his stance to leap towards the Templars.

"Hold it right there Assassin!" Ezio turned to face the man while keeping his blades at the ready, a giant of a man stood ahead of him, his massive form covered in fur with a blood red splotch resembling the Templar's cross smeared across the fur.

Stopping less than 5 meters away, he swung his war hammer from its resting position on his shoulder and into the ground, causing the earth to shake and spider web cracks to spread across the walkway.

"I'm one of the captains of the Templar Knights Order, I do not wish for these citizens to watch me pummel you to death," A couple of the Templars snickered while Ezio continued to glare at the man "We have you surrounded so why don't you surrender now and make my life easier?" The captain nonchantly requested, seeming to find greater interest on the back of his hand as he inspected it.

"Glad I'm making your life harder stronzo," The Florentine Assassin swiftly replied before letting loose his last three throwing knives towards the captain. Ezio's focus was torn away from the captain as a Templar tried to stab him, he felt rather disappointed he could not see the knives sinking into the captain's flesh. The thump of metal sinking into flesh and his howl of pain more or less made up for it.

"Let's see how well these idiotas can fight," Ezio thought as he deflected a dagger with the hidden blade's vambraces. His second hidden blade parted the flesh of the Templar's weapon arm, weakening his hold on his dagger. Ezio could feel the warmness of his blood as it covered his gloves. The Templar was about to cry out in pain just as he was kicked away, the thud of the boot against his stomach choking the scream.

"Not very well it seems," Ezio thought smugly to himself.

Ezio felt the world fade to monochrome as his senses sharpen to its highest state. He was no longer seeing. From his mind's eyes, he could see the distinct forms of his enemies showered in a red hue. Each action of the Templars, their stance, their sounds of their breathing became obvious to Ezio, no matter how minute they were. He heard the clanking of armour moving, feeling a guard change his stance to stab him with a knife.

Sparks flew as the blades clashed. As he held him back, Ezio sized the man up. He had left a surprising hole in his stance; perhaps he did not expect the assassin to be as lowly as to attack him there. He didn't have time for honor on the battlefield was what Ezio thought before sending an armored boot into the man's groin. The Templar fell to his side just as another prepared to land a blow with a sword. His aura flared aggressively but he was no threat. Splotches of blood soaked the Florentine Assassin's arm as he sank the dagger into the Templar's throat. The Templar could only gurgle in surprise as his lifeblood flooded out of his neck. Ezio snatched the weapon out of the mid-air as the man's lifeless body fell.

Ezio caught another blow with the sword, feeling the blow travel through his body. The Templar grunted, adding more force into his claymore. Another Templar saw his chance to gain recognition, tightening his grip around his spear, it shot forward, ready to mortally wound the assassin in the ribs from behind.

"Fools," He pushed hard against the claymore, sending the Templar backwards. The Templar glared at the challenge and swung his blade with all his force as a reply. A sly grin made its way up his face as he flipped over the rash counter attack. With nothing to stop his force, he stumbled forward, his guts getting pierced by the spear meant for the assassin. His claymore cleaved straight through the spearman's helmet, stopping just below his eye. They fell like puppets with their strings cut before Ezio landed on the ground, their blood staining the floor as they bled.

Flesh was separated from flesh as the assassin weaved in and out of the Templar's strikes while landing killing blows. The walkway had become crimson with the blood of the Templars. Ezio fended off another Templar, their numbers gave an advantage that he could not outfight. The chance of defeating them all and escaping was steadily becoming smaller. He flexed a muscle in his left arm; a barely audible click rang out as the weapon shifted modes. "Time for a change in tactics," Ezio thought.

A few more enemies tried to strike him while he parried their blows and barely nicked them thanks to their wariness. Ezio grinded his teeth as he got parried with a sword and almost run through by a spear. A rush of air was his only warning as he barely sidestepped a war hammer's blow. The rage in the aura made the rest of the Templars seem small. Ezio steadied himself and came face to face with the captain, this time with a small wound on his arm and shoulder with a cut on his cheek.

"I won't miss a second time," the captain growled out, giving the assassin only a brief respite before bringing the hammer up for another blow. Ezio dodged his blows easily, however he was amazed at the endurance and strength the man had. He swung the heavy weapon like it was a sword, yet his face betrayed no sign of tiring.

Suddenly the captain thrust forward, using the cross on the top of the hammer like a spear; Ezio spun aside avoiding the attack. The assassin noticed the captain lips curl into a smirk, there was something wrong. Glancing at the hammer, it had stopped mid thrust and was making its way to his arm. The Florentine Assassin hastily raised a defense with the sword he had taken from the guards. Steel met steel, and for a moment it seemed the blade had stopped the heavy blow of the hammer.

Just as Ezio thought of following up with a counter, the hammer's force snapped the integrity of the sword, blasting the assassin aside and into a wooden market store. The goods flew about in disarray as the boards split under the combined power of Ezio's weight and the war hammer's blow.

The captain stood there smugly before motioning for his soldiers to move in. The Templars moved in warily as they prepared to arrest the assassin, weapons ready to kill him if he still resisted. The wooden frames of the stall tumbled aside as they searched for the assassin. His groaning alerted them to his position; soon they found him lying with his body splayed out, like an eagle shot down from the sky. A Templar reached for his manacles to arrest the assassin when suddenly another Templar soldier swung his battleaxe into his fellow soldier's chest, throwing him aside as blood spurted out of his mouth. Another Templar got stabbed by the Templar behind him, many of them started to swing their weapons deliriously, injuring the rest of the soldiers.

The captain cried out amidst the chaos while defending himself from his own troops, "What witchery is this?"

"Looks like your men can't take a little poison sciocco," The assassin answered coolly, already out of the broken stall. He ducked to avoid a wild claymore before back flipping into the air and throwing a smoke bomb, sending the Templars into further confusion as they lost certainty of who were their friends and their sight. Ezio landed on a nearby ledge, watching them kill one another. He gave a mock salute to the captain, leaving him struggling to put down his own men without getting killed.

He grabbed on the edge of a balcony and climbed on the rooftops of Rome, heading towards the docks. Away from the cries of pain and induced madness.

He reached the docks with no further confrontation. It seemed he had travelled faster than word of mouth; the guards did not even bother checking anyone and simply acted as if they were scrutinizing everyone. Ezio hid himself in the crowd, covering the worst of the blood stains with his cloak. He could not afford chances. "Not now when escape is so close," He thought to himself.

He found the ship that his fellow assassin, Antonio had sent earlier under the guise of trading goods. The clacking of his boots alerted the captain to his presence. The captain looked up from some papers on his hand and raised a brow at Ezio's bloodstained clothing.

"Antonio sent me," he said while looking towards the dock gates.

"Did he? Well we better get a move on then," He replied glancing up before going to edge of the ship and hollering, "Hey! Hurry up and move that cargo! We're leaving before noon!"

The captain directed Ezio through the cramped corridors of the ship's interior. The room he brought Ezio to seemed fairly well furnished, at least he had a bed. The captain walked out to let him rest, reminding him of the journey's length.

The bed creaked as the sea worn wood adjusted to his weight as he lay on it. So many questions buzzed though his mind. Who exactly was the woman named Minerva talking to if it was not him? What did the Apple have to do with all this other than revealing a map and casting illusions at his whim? He had left the staff back at the Vatican, it would be safe now that he had threatened and broken the spirit of the Spaniard, or as the people here knew him as, the Pope. He would not try and do anything with the staff any longer.

He pushed the troubling thoughts away and relaxed himself, once he was back at Venezia, he could consult the other assassins and Leonardo. They would know something. He removed his armor and rubbed medicine over the bruise that he received from the captain. The sting helped him forget his thoughts as he lay back on the bed to rest.

The view of the ceiling became darkness as his eyes closed. The flicker of coding in the Animus began to show as it fast forwarded the journey. A sudden discoloration told Desmond that he was being disconnected from the Animus. Soon the lines of code disappeared and he was looking from his own eyes at yet another ceiling. He sat up on the Animus and waited for his vision to focus, he realized he was still in the van which they had used to escape from the hideout.

"What happened?" Desmond rasped out with his water deprived throat to no one in particular.

"What happened is that we need to move my baby, but we can't if you're on it."

Desmond glanced up and squinted as a blast of light hit his eyes, he barely made out Rebecca's form. He looked puzzled for a sign of a baby, before remembering that was what she liked to call the Animus. Her hand reached out to him, he grasped it and pulled himself up. He steadied himself and got out of the van.

Desmond's eyes got used to the light quickly and he got surprised at what greeted him. A huge white area, with practice equipment and obstacles put strategically around. He did not have time to see more as he heard a familiar voice call out from behind.

"Hey assassin, go make yourself useful," Desmond looked back and saw Shaun holding out a box of papers to him, "See if you can bring this to Lucy in the main room without getting lost."

Desmond took the box and glanced at the obstacle course warily before asking, "Where's that?"

The brown haired man looked back as he replied snidely while arranging more papers, "Asking for directions already?"

Rebecca's head popped out of the van, scowling at Shaun, "Give him a break Shaun, he hasn't been here before," Turning to look at Desmond she answered his question "It's in the middle of the entire course."

Desmond nodded and walked towards the course, blocking out Shaun's voice as he yelled after him, "Try not to get lost there!"

As Desmond walked through it, he could see what it actually was. It looked like someone had ripped out different environments and fused them into the ultimate obstacle course. He felt like he was walking through almost every kind of environment, from car parks to the inside of a large building.

"Where is this place?" Desmond mused as his footsteps echoed around him. Suddenly he noticed a strangely clear space in the course.

It was not much of a room, considering it had no walls. But the space around it, away from the course made it obvious it was its own space. A second Animus lay there, looking rather lonely with almost nothing around it. A blond haired woman stood with her back to him, typing on a laptop.

Desmond cleared his throat and spoke "Someone needed this?"

Lucy spun around and smiled as she saw Desmond "Thanks for bringing that here."

"No problem," Desmond replied as he set the box down on a table, "Where is this place?"

Lucy replied with an air of pride, "Welcome to the Assassin's main HQ, the Eagle's Nest."

Thanks for reading!

It's a post-AC2 fanfic. Luckily I made it more for the present time since Brotherhood is coming out.

You'll find out why I named the title that way soon!